Montana's Road Rage: The Fifth Worst State For Aggressive Driving

Do you come uncorked when someone cuts you off in traffic? Does your blood pressure rise when a vehicle is driving slowly in the "fast" lane? Do you scream at your rearview mirror when someone is tailgating you? You're not alone.

According to a new report from Consumer Affairs, Montanans are quite angry while driving. We're ranked 5th in the United States for road rage, based on data on fatal crashes involving careless or reckless driving, violations for dangerous driving, and traffic incidents involving gun violence

We're not as bad as Louisiana, where more than half of all traffic fatalities in the state involved aggressive or careless driving in 2023, four times the national average. Rounding out the top five for aggressive driving are New Mexico, Colorado, and Arkansas.

Do roundabouts make you angry? Credit Michael Foth, TSM

We're surrounded by calm-driving states.

Meanwhile, things are relatively chill in our neighboring states. North Dakota ranks 45th, and Idaho is 37th for road rage issues. To our south, the highways and byways in Wyoming are mildly angry, with a ranking of 19th.

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With low population density and thousands of miles of wide-open roads, I find it interesting that Montana drivers are so angry behind the wheel. Even in our largest city, the average commute time is what, 20 minutes, tops?

I-90, coming into Billings from the east. Credit Michael Foth, TSM

Take a deep breath, angry drivers.

It's easy to lose your cool on the road, but escalating the situation by flipping someone off, cursing and screaming, or retaliating erratically is never a good idea. We're all going to get where we're headed at roughly the same time anyway... why risk an accident or getting into a physical altercation?