There's data to now back up what we all know, people.
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For anyone who's ever driven along Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale and watched another driver speed up the second a turn signal comes on, this may come as little surprise. A new national study has crowned U.S. 1 through Fort Lauderdale as Florida's "Most Passive-Aggressive Road" and the second most passive-aggressive roadway in the entire country.
The ranking comes from American River Wellness, which surveyed 3,011 motorists to identify the roads where everyday driving courtesy seems to disappear. Rather than focusing on dramatic road rage, the study examined the quieter frustrations that can make a commute drag: refusing to let drivers merge, blocking intersections, closing gaps on purpose and pretending not to notice vehicles trying to pull into traffic.
According to the report, Federal Highway "has a tropical way of making everyone behave like they are guarding the last open table at brunch." Researchers point to the combination of beach traffic, drawbridge delays, condo entrances, restaurants, tourists, delivery vehicles and local commuters as the recipe for constant friction. The study adds that drivers frequently "block exits, close gaps, creep forward at intersections, and act personally wounded when someone needs to change lanes," calling it "a slow, sunlit refusal to make anyone else's day easier."
The survey also found that cutting across lanes at the last second, refusing to let cars pull out from parking lots and tailgating without passing ranked among Florida's most common passive-aggressive driving habits. Merge lanes were identified as the places where motorists are most likely to encounter these behaviors.
Nationally, only Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles ranked ahead of Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale. Rounding out the top five were Central Avenue in New York's Westchester County, U.S. 280 near Birmingham, Alabama, and Route 17 in Paramus, New Jersey. Tampa's Dale Mabry Highway also landed at No. 26 nationally, while Orlando's Sand Lake Road came in at No. 58.
