ROAD rage is becoming a national obsession, with almost three in four Australians admitting to suffering from anger behind the wheel and seeing it on the road.

A survey by CARSguide.com.au has found that 74 per cent of people claim they suffer from road rage.

Of more than 5,500 people surveyed, 70 per cent of respondents claimed to have been a victim of road rage, with rude hand gestures (53 per cent) and abusive shouting (49 per cent) being the most common form of rage they encountered.

The report found the top three causes of road rage were inconsiderate driving (46 per cent), someone pushing in front at the last minute (43 per cent) and tail-gating (42 per cent).

Taxi drivers also came off badly in the poll, with 76 per cent of respondents saying taxi drivers were inconsiderate of other drivers and discourteous on the road and 73 per cent claimed they had been in a taxi where the driver drove recklessly.

Over one third (37 per cent) of taxi passengers have felt intimidated by a taxi driver and 49 per cent said they had experienced a cab driver using offensive language while driving.

On a scale of one to ten, taxi drivers’ level of service rated a dismal 4.7 out of ten. Bus drivers and tram drivers didn’t fare much better, rating 5.2 and 5.3 respectively.

Tail-gating was rated the most irritating driver habit of all and elderly drivers were voted Australia’s worst.

While these figures are high, they are lower than was reported in research carried out 12 months ago which found 87 per cent of respondents suffered from road rage.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,21630641-5006007,00.html