Coming as a shock to absolutely no one, Miami has been named one of the most stressful cities in the country to drive in.
Like other major cities, we have our fair share of gridlock. But we also know of the specific dread that hits before merging onto the Palmetto or the split-second panic of committing to the I-95 express lanes. It’s survival of the fittest out on our roads and a new study from The Lemon Law Experts has put data to that sinking feeling drivers feel on the daily.
Based on a survey of 2,003 drivers across 40 U.S. cities, researchers measured behind-the-wheel anxiety for locals, and despite not cracking the Top 10, Miami drivers are officially on edge.
The largest stress factors are heavy traffic and congestion (92%), aggressive lane changing (90%) and drivers glued to their phones (85%). And the anxiety is only getting worse. A whopping 71% of Miami drivers said driving in the city is more nerve-wracking than it was a few years ago, leading 40% to now drive less overall due to stress.
Most telling of all, more than half (54%) of Miamians admit they’ve outright canceled plans just to avoid the drive.
As far as its methodology, participants were asked a range of questions about their behind-the-wheel anxiety, how it compares to a few years ago, what stresses them out most and more. The responses were then assigned point values to generate an average score for each of the 40 cities, scaled from 0 to 100, with a score of 100 representing peak driving misery.
Other notable results include that 1 in 3 American drivers feel anxious, angry and/or stressed when driving, over half of drivers feel anxiety before beginning their drive and 1 in 4 drivers have made occupational changes due to the drive.
Believe it or not, Miami isn’t even the most stressful place to drive in Florida, according to the study. That dubious honor belongs to Orlando, which landed at No. 7 nationally. On the flip side, Tampa secured the No. 5 spot for the least stressful driving city in America.
As for the rest of the country, Atlanta, Georgia took the No. 1 prize as the most stressful city for drivers. Meanwhile, San Francisco, California cruised into the rankings as the least stressful driving city.
Read the full report here.
