California Drivers Officially Ranked Worst in US
Every year, an online marketplace for auto insurance called QuoteWizard publishes a study that analyzes which states and major cities have the worst and best drivers across the United States. Last year, Utah had that honor. This year, it was overtaken by California. Congratulations, Golden State, you have the worst drivers!
The study uses five different factors to “quantify overall driver standards,” including accidents, speeding tickets, DUIs, citations, and fatalities. California saw an increase in citations in 2017 and was the worst state for DUIs. In fact, the study says that five of the top 10 cities with the worst drivers are located in California.
Ranked second and third behind California were Minnesota and Utah, respectively, while at the bottom of the list (the states with the best drivers) were Rhode Island, Florida, and Mississippi. That’s right—Florida is the state with the second-best drivers.
All things told, that’s not saying much. Driving across America is generally a poor experience regardless of state because of bad road maintenance and awful lane discipline. It’s also hard to expect too much of the drivers when the driving education system is so dismal and the speed limits are so low (contrary to popular belief, if you raised the speed limits you would likely see a reduction in accidents, but that’s for another article).
According to the study, driving got worse in 2017 across the board as well. “If you feel like you’re constantly surrounded by subpar drivers, you might be onto something,” writes Lee Prindle. “Car-related deaths have risen a staggering 14 percent since 2015. A report from the III shows that car accidents rates are going up, and so too is the average cost of a car accident.”
The two biggest factors behind the rise in bad driving are likely to be the increase in mileage covered by Americans, who are driving more than ever before thanks to a strong economy, and the increase in distracted driving. An estimated 660,000 people per day use an electronic device while driving, which is probably one of the reasons why the study also found that Democratic states were more likely to have bad drivers than Republican states. Old people have plenty of problems, but staring at a screen while behind the wheel is not usually one of them.
News Source: QuoteWizard
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