Macquarie Institute Australia - Article Library

Article: City of road ragers

Herald Sun, 12 Oct 2002
By PETER MICKELBUROUGH, chief police reporter

MELBOURNE has overtaken Sydney as the nation's road rage capital, according to a survey of driver attitudes.

Melbourne motorists are fuming, causing a dramatic rise in driver stress, anger and confrontation on the city's roads recorded in insurer AAMI's latest driver survey.

Almost two thirds of drivers nationally believe other drivers have become more aggressive in the past year.

Melbourne's drivers are more likely to be aggressive and impatient, run red lights, speed, and drive while tired than drivers in any other capital city.

AAMI's Victorian general manager Anthony Durakovic said Melbourne drivers are also more likely to take unnecessary risks and are more susceptible to bad driving habits, such as littering from vehicles, talking on the phone or driving too close to vehicles ahead of them.

More than 700 Victorians were assaulted in road rage attacks in the past year, according to Victoria Police figures.

The survey found that in Melbourne:

HALF of all drivers blast their horn at others they think are doing something wrong, compared with a national average of slightly more than a third.

MORE than one in four drivers use rude gestures, compared with one in five nationally.

ONE in 10 drivers will cut someone off just because they can -- more than three times the national average.

MORE than one in eight drivers say they sometimes get so angry that they tailgate other drivers and flash their headlights. The national average is one in 14.

ONE in 13 admit chasing drivers who do something stupid, compared to just one in 20 nationally.

On a 100-point rage indicator Melbourne jumped seven points to 33.5, compared to Sydney on 31.2, Adelaide 28.6, Brisbane 28.2, Hobart 25.8 and Canberra 25.6.

The survey also reveals Melbourne drivers are the most likely to ignore speed limits on suburban roads, outside schools or for roadworks.

Risk-taking -- at its highest level nationally in eight years -- is also higher among Melbourne drivers.

Four in 10 say they often try to beat cars next to them at traffic lights, one in four say they use hand-held mobiles when they drive and three in 10 believe there is not much chance of getting caught if they drive faster than the speed limit.

Men and women are both prone to angry behaviour: women aged 18-34 are most inclined to blast their horn; men are most likely to use rude gestures.

The results are from a survey of 1100 Australian drivers published yesterday in the 2002 AAMI Crash Index, which also analyses AAMI's crash claims data.

Drivers also view Melbourne as a hot spot for unsafe truck drivers: 84 per cent say they have often seen trucks driving too close to cars and 87 per cent say they have seen trucks breaking the speed limit.

Almost half of Melbourne drivers support a zero blood-alcohol limit for everyone; 30 per cent admit to driving while over the limit.