July 10, 2015 10.28 am This story is over 104 months old

Lincoln named as road rage capital of the UK

Pole position: A new study has revealed that more drivers in Lincoln suffer from road rage than anywhere else in the country.
Photo: The Lincolnite

A new study has revealed that more drivers in Lincoln suffer from road rage than anywhere else in the country.

The survey found that more than six in 10 motorists in the city admitted to regularly losing their temper behind the wheel, above the national average of less than five in 10.

According to the findings published by car insurance firm Privilege, there is a road rage incident every 20 minutes or along every seven mile stretch of tarmac on average across the country.

Men aged 50, 69 and 79 are outed as the top three worst offenders for seeing red on the road, while women aged 39 are fourth most likely short-tempered motorists.

The research revealed hot-headed motorists spend a total of five months of their lives seething at other road users.

Road rage on average lasts for four minutes – including the time spent fuming after the argument – with 7.30am on Mondays highlighted as the danger time when most incidents take place.

Six in 10 said another driver cutting them up was the main cause of road rage, five in 10 cited tailgating and a third said motorists who failed to thank them left them incensed.

Other road rage hotspots in the UK include Portsmouth, Peterborough, Hull and Exeter, with Nottingham home to the calmest drivers in the country.

The study described road rage as an incident in which a driver raised their voice, swore, used hand gestures, flashed their lights or used the horn as a reaction to another driver’s, cyclist’s or pedestrian’s behaviour on the road.

One such incident of road rage in Lincoln this year saw a man rip the wing mirror off another car on the A46 bypass in March after driving erratically behind the victim beforehand.

Charlotte Fielding, head of car insurance at Privilege said: “Road rage is the ugly face of motoring, and even at the milder end of the spectrum, can lead to accidents as drivers leave the scene focussed on the argument or perceived wrong doing, instead of their driving.

“The aim of our Campaign Against Road Rage is to help to reduce the number of road rage related accidents and make Britain’s roads safer places to be.”