It’s official, Britain’s roads are full of angry and stressed out motorists, and it’s not just men that are seeing the red mist as research reveals women feel angrier when driving than men.

The women’s car insurance specialist, questioned 1,800 motorists and found that 21% of women often feel angry with other motorists when behind the wheel compared with just 18% of men. 51% of both men and women admit to shouting at other drivers, but it’s men who are more likely to take this further with 8% of them frequently shouting at other motorists and 2% having physically attacked another driver, compared to 7% and 1% respectively for women.

Being aggressive behind the wheel simply isn’t worth it

Today’s motorists are also at the receiving end of this aggression as 56% of men and 54% of women admit to having been shouted at by another motorist.

Diamond managing director, Sian Lewis, commented, "Although women are more likely to feel angry our statistics show that it’s the men that you might want to keep an eye out for. In fact, we can see from their conviction rates that men are more likely to drive in an aggressive manner as 18% of them have a speeding conviction compared to 12% of women."

UK motorists have also noticed an increase in the stresses of modern driving as 35% of women and 32% of men say that they find driving more stressful than they did a year ago.

Sian continued, "It’s not surprising that motorists are becoming angrier behind the wheel as roads are getting busier, hence making journeys more difficult, the chance of getting caught by a speed camera is an increased risk and it seems that everywhere you turn there are roadworks slowing you down.

Feeling stressed impacts on concentration, and therefore affects driving ability so it’s certainly worth trying to stay calm. Motorists need to remember that everyone’s simply trying to get from A to B, driving isn’t a race and aggression, leading to convictions will hit you in the pocket through a fine and increased insurance premium. Being aggressive behind the wheel simply isn’t worth it."