Hamilton is No. 2 city for road rage incidents within Ontario

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Published November 18, 2022 at 2:33 pm

Hamilton punches the horn and tailgates at rates surpassed by only one other major centre in Ontario.

My Choice, which a company which helps consumers comparison-shop for auto insurance, posted a study Friday to identifiy the Ontario cities with the most aggressive drivers. After drawing from a database of more than a quarter-million insurance quotes, it ranked Hamilton as the second-worst in Ontario for road rage incidents.

North York is No. 1, accounting for 5.91 per cent of road rage incidents in the entire province through the first 10 months of 2022. Hamilton is second at 5.12%, with Brampton (4.91), Mississauga (4.73) and Scarborough (4.51) filling out the top five. The latter three centres (Scarborough is part of the City of Toronto) all have higher populations than Hamilton.

Insurers are allowed to factor where a driver lives into the cost of monthly premiums, along with other relevant factors (driving record, age and gender). Safer drivers in a city could result in a Hamilton-based driver saving a few dollars.

The internal data that My Choice used to complete the report included over 48,500 road rage incidents from across Ontario.

The data covers a year where Hamilton has also had 21 traffic deaths. That is a 10-year high. The previous high for the past decade, 12, happened in 2021.

Several reforms have been adopted, including the conversion of Main St. to two-way traffic, more automated speed enforcement and a public education program about winter driving.

Four of the 13 provinces and territories in Canada — British Columbia, Québec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan — have compulsory public auto insurance. The last time it was considered in Ontario was under then-premier Bob Rae’s New Democratic Party in 1991.

Direct private vs. public comparisons are difficult due to the numerous circumstantial factors involved in calculating premiums. The four provinces that have public auto insurance also use different models.

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