The motorist who brandished a gun at a fellow driver on I-694 in Brooklyn Center during Tuesday's morning rush hour must have been an anomaly because Twin Cities drivers are among the most courteous in the nation.
So says the 2014 "In the Driver's Seat Road Rage Survey."
The Twin Cities ranked No. 6 when it comes to driver etiquette among motorists in the 25 largest U.S. cities. And that is a huge improvement from five years ago when Minneapolis-St. Paul was home to some of the least polite drivers in the nation.
Ranking ahead of the Twin Cities in the survey compiled by the car and roadside assistance agency AutoVantage were Portland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Francisco and Charlotte. On the other end of the scale were Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Boston.
Compared to other cities, Minneapolis-St. Paul drivers were the second least likely to have reported other drivers speeding, second least likely to acknowledge eating or drinking while driving and third least likely to have seen other drivers tailgating.
But it's not all great on the local roads. We apparently do throw a fit when we see other drivers do something we think is wrong. The survey found we tied for second with San Diego when it comes to purposely bumping into other drivers. So we do have our incidents of road rage and share of rude drivers.
The survey released Monday measured behavior, observation and attitudes related to road rage to compile the rankings.
