With more cars on the road than ever before, it’s no surprise that driving is becoming increasingly more stressful. In fact, a recent survey showed that 90% of drivers admitted to feeling stressed or angry behind the wheel, with 1 in 10 people feeling stressed every time they drive in the UK.
Keen to find out more, ICE HeadShop wanted to uncover which UK regions are home to the most stressed drivers. They looked into road rage related crimes as well as accidents as a percentage of 71 UK cities’ drivers to find the UK cities with the most, and least, stressed drivers.
Key findings:
- Luton is the UK city with the most stressed drivers, scoring 91.6/100
- The least stressed city is Wigan, Greater Manchester, with a stressed driver score of just 7.0/100
- Cambridge is the city with the highest number of accidents at a roundabout
- The Kent police force has had the highest number of road rage related crimes in the UK
The UK’s most stressed drivers
| Rank | City | Police force | No. of road rage related crimes (per police force) | No. of accidents per 100,000 drivers | Stressed driver score (/100) |
| #1 | Luton | Bedfordshire | 585 | 916 | 91.6 |
| #2 | Birmingham | West Midlands | 2,010 | 800 | 89.7 |
| #3 | Cambridge | Cambridgeshire | 482 | 1,081 | 88.8 |
| =#4 | Blackpool | Lancashire | 872 | 1,091 | 86.5 |
| =#4 | Bradford | West Yorkshire | 697 | 1,110 | 86.5 |
| #5 | Bournemouth | Dorset | 493 | 771 | 85.1 |
| #6 | Blackburn | Lancashire | 872 | 1,105 | 84.6 |
| #7 | Derby | Derbyshire | 439 | 782 | 83.7 |
| #8 | Plymouth | Devon and Cornwall | 620 | 778 | 83.3 |
| #9 | Walsall | West Midlands | 2,010 | 1,053 | 80.0 |
| #10 | Doncaster | South Yorkshire | 873 | 874 | 79.1 |
ICE HeadShop can reveal that the most stressed drivers are from Luton. With a stressed driver score of 91.6/100, the city ranked highly for total number of accidents and accidents at a roundabout per 100,000 drivers. With a major airport, a high population, and a 42% pass rate for driving tests, it’s no surprise that Luton tops the list of stressed out drivers.
Ranking second is Birmingham, with a stressed driver score of 89.7/100. Birmingham’s local police force, West Midlands Police, saw the second highest number of road rage related crimes in the UK – second only to Kent. Birmingham also has the highest number of accident hotspots (clusters of accidents reported) in the UK with 245 reported over the period analysed.
In third place is Cambridge, with a stressed driver score of 88.8/100. Cambridge has a high number of accidents per 100,000 drivers (1081), but is home to the highest number of accidents at a roundabout. Following the opening of the UK’s first Dutch roundabout in 2020, residents have called the area an ‘accident waiting to happen’.
The UK’s least stressed drivers
| Rank | City | Police force | No. of road rage related crimes | No. of accidents per 100,000 drivers | Stressed driver score (/100) |
| #1 | Wigan | Greater Manchester | 969 | 362 | 7.0 |
| =#2 | Solihull | West Midlands | 2010 | 84 | 8.8 |
| =#2 | Stockport | Greater Manchester | 969 | 155 | 8.8 |
| #3 | Burton upon Trent | Staffordshire | 160 | 280 | 12.0 |
| =#4 | Newcastle-under-Lyme | Staffordshire | 160 | 219 | 12.5 |
| =#4 | Sutton Coldfield | West Midlands | 2010 | 277 | 12.5 |
| #5 | Bury | Greater Manchester | 969 | 273 | 13.4 |
ICE HeadShop found that the least stressed drivers are in Wigan, with a stressed driver score of just 7.0/100. Whilst road rage and total accidents are still relatively high, there was only one accident hotspot in the city and 11 accidents at roundabouts – the lowest in the UK in each of these categories.
Solihull and Stockport both rank joint second, with a score of 8.8/100. Whilst Solihull’s road rage crimes were quite high, they have the lowest number of accidents per 100,000 drivers (84) in the UK.
Ranking third is Burton upon Trent with a stressed driver score of 12.0/100. Their police force, Staffordshire Police, recorded the second lowest number of road rage related crimes at 160, second to Suffolk Police who recorded just 79.
Credit to https://www.iceheadshop.co.uk/ who commissioned the data and supplied the above post.
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