This just in: Americans are bad drivers, and it makes us mad

Ah, another national study of something we'd never thought about researching: the best and worst U.S. cities for road rage. Looks like drivers in Miami are the nation's rudest, while people in Minneapolis are veritable traffic angels. The Driver's Seat Road Rage Survey, commissioned by AutoVantage, polled people in 20 major cities to get their thoughts on how nasty drivers in their towns were, and the results were pretty much what you'd expect: People get mean when they get stressed, and people get stupid when they multitask while driving.

Survey respondents said the main cause of road rage is people who are trying to get somewhere fast. That makes drivers speed, cut other drivers off and tailgate, all of which pisses other drivers off and results in all sorts of yelling, honking and fist-shaking. That's nothing new; Houstonist sees it nearly every day. What surprised us was how pervasive some of the irresponsible in-car activity seems to be: 80 percent of respondents said they see other drivers talking on cell phones on a daily basis, 30 percent said they see people shaving, reading or doing other inappropriate things while behind the wheel every day, and 50 percent see people tailgating daily. Just reading about it makes Houstonist want to give someone the traditional one-finger greeting.

By the way, Houston ranked ninth in the survey, putting us right in the middle of the pack in terms of road rudeness.