Driving is supposed to be fun. Imagine telling your ancestors about the possibility to hurtle around town in a metal box at three times the speed of the average horse. OK, so they’d probably be terrified at first – but after an easy cruise along an open, blue-skied motorway, your great-great-great grandma would probably get the idea.
Unfortunately, those open motorways are in short supply. Motorists have filled the roads with slow-moving metal boxes and named it ‘traffic.’ And fun is in short supply, too. Instead, a slow road when you’re in a hurry causes stress, road rage, and more.
The fatigue of all that stopping and starting leads to mistakes, a short temper, and further stress. One study found that commuting during rush hour causes your blood pressure to spike. Another even found that domestic violence rises in times of high traffic.
Whether you’re a commuter, hauler, or just have somewhere to be, FleetLogging wants you to take the least stressful route. (As a side note: never tweet while driving, people!)
Image Credit: tommaso79 / iStock.
Methodology and Sources
Using Twitter API we collected tweets that featured the keyword “traffic” written in English and posted in either the US. We removed tweets from traffic update accounts.
Then using the TensiStrength tool, we classified every tweet as stressed or not.
To detect the location of each tweet, we referred to the post coordinates (where it was added) or the location mentioned in their profile.
To get the breakdown by roads, we first took the lists of most congested roads from the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard for the US and this list from the Office of Highway Policy Information of the most traveled urban highways in America.
Then we extracted tweets that contain the names of those roads.
Data were collected in January 2021.
Here are the cities (and the states and roads — we’ve put those at the end) that cause the most stress in the U.S.
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
50. Houston
Stressed tweets: 53.1%
Image Credit: RoschetzkyIstockPhoto.
49. Chicago
Stressed tweets: 53.3%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
48. Toledo, Ohio
Stressed tweets: 53.6%
Image Credit: Deposit Photos.
47. Pittsburgh
Stressed tweets: 54.0%
Image Credit: Union Station, Pittsburgh by Ram-Man (CC BY-SA).
46. Los Angeles
Stressed tweets: 54.0%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
45. San Diego, California
Stressed tweets: 54.0%
Image Credit: f11photo/istockphoto.
44. Spokane, Washington
Stressed tweets: 54.1%
Image Credit: ChrisBoswell / iStock.
43. Minneapolis
Stressed tweets: 54.3%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
42. Charlotte, North Carolina
Stressed tweets: 54.7%
Image Credit: Kruck20 / iStock.
41. Tampa, Florida
Stressed tweets: 54.9%
Image Credit: Gabriele Maltinti / iStock.
40. Baltimore
Stressed tweets: 55.3%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
39. New Orleans
Stressed tweets: 55.7%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
38. Omaha, Nebraska
Stressed tweets: 55.9%
Image Credit: Deposit Photos.
37. Aurora, Colorado
Stressed tweets: 56.3%
Image Credit: Jeffrey Beall.
36. St. Louis, Missouri
Stressed tweets: 56.3%
Image Credit: iStock.
35. Columbus, Ohio
Stressed tweets: 56.5%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
34. Saint Paul, Minnesota
Stressed tweets: 56.8%
Image Credit: Deposit Photos.
33. San Antonio, Texas
Stressed tweets: 57.0%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.
32. Bakersfield, California
Stressed tweets: 57.1%
Image Credit: ChrisBoswell / iStock.
31. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Stressed tweets: 57.3%
Image Credit: tobynabors / iStock.
30. District of Columbia
Stressed tweets: 57.3%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
29. Nashville
Stressed tweets: 57.4%
Image Credit: iStock.
28. Richmond, Virginia
Stressed tweets: 57.5%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
27. Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Stressed tweets: 57.7%
Image Credit: BSPollard/istockphoto.
26. Albuquerque, New Mexico
Stressed tweets: 57.9%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
25. Detroit
Stressed tweets: 58.5%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
24. Boise, Idaho
Stressed tweets: 58.5%
Image Credit: Sean Pavone/iStock.
23. Portland, Oregon
Stressed tweets: 58.8%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
22. Raleigh, North Carolina
Stressed tweets: 58.8%
Image Credit: iStock/Mark Howard.
21. Wichita, Kansas
Stressed tweets: 58.9%
Image Credit: Getty.
20. Orlando, Florida
Stressed tweets: 59.1%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
19. Norfolk, Virginia
Stressed tweets: 59.5%
Image Credit: SeanPavonePhoto / iStock.
18. Memphis, Tennessee
Stressed tweets: 60.0%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
17. Colorado Springs, Colorado
Stressed tweets: 60.0%
Image Credit: Jacob Boomsma / iStock.
16. Indianapolis
Stressed tweets: 60.5%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
15. Jersey City, New Jersey
Stressed tweets: 60.5%
Image Credit: Ultima_Gaina / iStock.
14. Lincoln, Nebraska
Stressed tweets: 61.8%
Image Credit: Deposit Photos.
13. Mesa, Arizona
Stressed tweets: 61.9%
Image Credit: DenisTangneyJr/istockphoto.
12. Long Beach, California
Stressed tweets: 62.5%
Image Credit: MattGush / iStock.
11. Gilbert, Arizona
Stressed tweets: 62.5%
Image Credit: Deposit Photos.
10. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Stressed tweets: 63.0%
Image Credit: benkrut / iStock.
9. Jacksonville, Florida
Stressed tweets: 63.0%
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
8. Atlanta
Stressed tweets: 63.3%
Image Credit: Deposit Photos.
7. El Paso, Texas
Stressed tweets: 65.1%
Image Credit: pabradyphoto.
6. Louisville, Kentucky
Stressed tweets: 66.0%
Image Credit: hstiver / iStock.
5. Fort Worth, Texas
Stressed tweets: 67.2%
Image Credit: Barbara Smyers / iStock.
4. Tucson, Arizona
Stressed tweets: 67.5%
Image Credit: Sean Pavone / iStock.
3. Stockton, California
Stressed tweets: 70.6%
Image Credit: f1monaco31/ iStock.
2. Newark, New Jersey
Stressed tweets: 73.1%
Image Credit: ChrisBoswell / iStock.
1. Lubbock, Texas
Stressed tweets: 75.0%
Image Credit: Ron and Patty Thomas/istockphoto.
Most-stressful state for drivers: Tiny Rhode Island
Our heat map illustrates the most stressful states for traffic in the US. Colder colors indicate a lower density of stressed tweets; hotter colors indicate more stress.
America’s smallest state is also the second-most densely populated one – and has the nation’s most stressed drivers. Rhode Island has a traffic stress rate of 62.18%. Roadworks such as the closure of Manville Bridge in Lincoln (which normally carries 8,000 cars each day) have exacerbated the problem of the state’s already overpopulated roadways.
Utah has the lowest traffic stress, a full 6% less than the second mellowest state, Iowa. The state of Utah is celebrated for its leisure routes and was recently declared America’s best state for driving due to a low fatality rate and low cars-to-road-mileage ratio.
Image Credit: FleetLogging.com.
America’s Most-Stressed Road
Interstate 95 from Miami, Florida, is America’s most stressed road, with an 86.96% stress rate. The I-95 is “built like a back road and one crash completely paralyzes traffic” according to one angry tweeter. But roads in Georgia and California dominate the stress hit list. A spate of highway shootings in Atlanta, including two on America’s second-most stressful road (I-85), may or may not have been a response to traffic stress – but the investigations certainly slowed local commuters.
It’s not always possible to avoid the traffic, but if you can – you should. Scientists found that every minute longer it takes you to get to work will add to your dissatisfaction in life. Not good news when you’re already feeling stressed! If you must navigate busy roads or cities when you travel, try deep breathing, singing, and even smiling to keep stress at bay. Another angry driver on the road just adds to the problem.
Related:
- The most dangerous highways for summer driving in the US
- Quick ways to save money on your summer trip
This article originally appeared on FleetLogging.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
Image Credit: FleetLogging.com.
