Thursday, May 18, 2006

Houston is only 9th when it comes to road rage?

The AutoVantage road rage survey is out, and it has been making the rounds in the news. I caught a glimpse of it on CNN, but as I am looking for a good link, it seems that all the online news sources are putting the same AP story. One example of this is the reprint at Houston Chronicle, which is pretty much AP rehash for the most part anyways. I guess an illustration of lack of original reporting and news conglomeration, but I disgress. The point is I heard that Houston was ninth on the survey, but the only reference I found to Houston is that it was mentioned along with other cities in the survey. This wire story out of Connecticut, where the company that did the survey is based, mentions Houston.

At any rate, if Houston was ranked ninth, I have to say I am a little disappointed. I thought the city would rank higher. In the short time I have been living here, I have discovered that Houstonians make it a point of pride to be rude and enraged when they drive. This even applies to school zones. I have actually had people in their large SUVs honk at me, pass me at a fast clip, barely cutting me off because I was driving within the speed limit in a school zone during school hours. Heck, they even honk and get mad in the school zones with the deputy sheriff parked nearby. And don't even get me started on the guy who went down the wrong way on a one way street, almost hit me head on, and when I swerved to the side to avoid him, actually stopped his car, got out of it, threw a tantrum, and began to yell at me. Needless to say, I just made my turn and left him there. Last thing I need is some whacko who apparently does not know the regulations of the road getting some gun out of his SUV. Apparently illiteracy goes along with road rage for the local morons since there was a prominently displayed "DO NOT ENTER" sign as the guy strolled in. And by the way, the guy was fairly well dressed, professional looking. Readers can find my recent encounters with other local road mofos here.

The top road rage city according to the report is Miami. The nicest places are Minneapolis, Nashville, St. Louis, Seattle, and Atlanta.

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