New Jersey has cracked the top five states for road rage in the country, according to a new study. But the Garden State’s ranking has less to do with gunfire on the highway than with something far more familiar to anyone who has ever merged onto the Turnpike: sheer, unrelenting aggressive driving.
A new report by Consumer Affairs ranked New Jersey fifth in the nation for worst road rage, analyzing data on fatal crashes involving careless or reckless driving, citations for dangerous driving, and traffic incidents involving gun violence.
The report found that 46% of all traffic deaths in the state were tied to careless or aggressive driving. That is a striking figure and the primary driver of New Jersey’s top-five ranking.
The gun violence picture, however, tells a very different story. Between 2023 and 2025, New Jersey recorded just six traffic incidents involving gun violence, one of the lowest rates in the country, roughly 85% below the national rate. Among all 50 states, New Jersey and New York consistently rank at the bottom for armed road rage incidents per capita.
Experts say the gap between New Jersey’s aggressive driving numbers and its low gun violence figures reflects the state’s strict firearms laws. New Jersey reports just 0.3 firearm-related road rage incidents per 100,000 residents, the lowest rate in the country, compared to New Mexico, which leads the nation at 5.5 incidents per 100,000 residents.
Louisiana leads the nation overall in road rage, with 57% of fatal crashes and 58% of traffic deaths caused by aggressive or careless driving, and fatal crashes linked to aggressive driving reaching 9.31 per 100,000 residents. Arkansas, Colorado, and Montana round out the top four ahead of New Jersey.
New Jersey’s ranking is also an improvement of sorts. Though the state remains in the same fifth-place spot as last year, its percentage of traffic fatalities involving aggressive or careless driving dropped significantly, from a nationwide high of 72.8% the prior year down to 44.9%.
Still, the overall picture remains concerning for a state already notorious for congested highways, jughandles, and some of the highest traffic density in the country.
For New Jersey drivers, the takeaway may be counterintuitive: the state’s roads are among the most dangerous in the country for aggressive driving, even as they remain among the safest from gun violence. The jughandle, it turns out, may be more dangerous than the holster.
