(Photo © J. Maus)
Once again, a national survey of driver behavior has put Portland on top of the the “Most Courteous/Least Road Rage” list. Portland held the title in 2007, but came in 2nd place last year.
The fourth annual survey compared 25 major cities (through 2,518 telephone interviews) and was commissioned by Autovantage, a national auto club.
Here’s a blurb about Portland from a press release on the survey:
“Vaulting it to the top spot this year, Portland drivers ranked No. 1 on several “most courteous” categories: Portland motorists are least likely to honk their horn or curse at other drivers, least likely to observe other drivers running through red lights and, tied with Cleveland and Philadelphia, least likely to observe others cutting over with little or no warning.”
New York was found to have the most road rage, followed by Dallas/Fort Worth. Here’s the top 5 lists:
Any thoughts out there on what might account for Portland’s supposedly courteous drivers? Also, unfortunately the survey focused on people’s behavior toward other motor vehicle operators, as opposed to people on bicycles. Even so, this survey is welcome news at the outset of summer, especially considering the irresponsible conflagration of a “bikes vs. cars” war by The Oregonian last July. Remember these front pages?
July 10th:
July 11th:
July 15th:
I sure hope we don’t see that kind of media frenzy this summer. (Thankfully, I think The Oregonian is improving in this regard. They acknowledged that they “overplayed” the stories and they now have reporter Joseph Rose doing more coverage of bikes and cars. Rose has added a much more sensitive and constructive tone to the paper).
— Learn more about the survey methodology and see the full list of rankings here.