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The drivers in many states have their own, unique reputation. You may even be able to list a couple of these stereotypes off the top of your head. I’ve certainly heard some of these generalizations. But I’ll be honest, I never thought the “most confrontational” drivers were Californians.

When Forbes Advisor ranked the driving habits of every state in the U.S., Californians took the #1 spot for most confrontational with a perfect score: 100 out of 100. Here’s how that all broke down.

The percentage of Californians who say another driver has cut them off is 47.5. That is the third highest in the country. The number of Californians who say someone has yelled at them, insulted them, cursed, or threatened them on the road is 32%. That’s the fourth highest in the country. In addition, 8.5% of Californians say they experience other drivers with road rage “very frequently.” That’s the fifth highest rate in the country.

The majority of Californians (60.5%) report that someone has tailgated their car. That’s the seventh highest number in the country. More than half that many Californians (35.5%) report another driver has gone a step further, blocking their car from merging or changing names. That’s the 11th highest rate in the country.

One of the most dramatic numbers is that 11% of Californians say another driver has exited their vehicle to yell at or fight them.

What’s going on with these numbers? According to Californians, California drivers are among the most aggressive in the country. But because these numbers are hearsay, a couple of them could be misleading. For example: 60.5% of Californians say someone has tailgated their car. That number isn’t nearly as high in New York. But New Yorkers may have a different idea of how close you must be before you are “tailgating.”

Whatever the true “personality” of California drivers is, there are a ton of them. And what’s not hearsay is that the number of traffic fatalities in California rose 7.6% to 4,285 in 2021. That comes out to 11.7 traffic fatalities every day. It’s an unfortunately high number, but probably not the fault of California drivers. The Golden State just has a lot of roads with a ton of folks driving on them. Its fatality rate comes out to 1.38 for every 100 million miles driven, which is very close to the national average (1.33).

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Staff Writer

Henry Cesari

Henry Cesari joined MotorBiscuit in 2021 and brings his deep interest in vintage cars, trucks, and motorcycles to the site. Having restored his first classic car at just 16 years old, Henry has wrenched on everything from overland campers to Japanese motorcycles and even pre-war Bugattis. Henry is also an avid attendee at local car shows and genuinely enjoys connecting with fellow auto enthusiasts.

Henry earned a Bachelor’s in Anthropology and English from the University of Vermont. He has since incorporated his love of the written word with his admiration of classic cars. While Henry is interested in vintage cars, he believes the golden age of cars is yet to come. He is confident journalists will play an important role in this revolution by exposing the industry as it is now and envisioning its possible future.