For the fourth year in a row, Smart Asset has produced a report showing the states with the worst drivers. (Did the East Coast just pop into your head? Yes, for us too. But you may be surprised…)
To find these states, Smart Asset considered four metrics: the percentage of drivers who are insured, the number of DUI arrests per 1,000 drivers, the number of fatalities per 100 million miles driven and, lastly, how often residents Google terms like “traffic ticket” or “speeding ticket.” Fascinating, huh?
So, which state has the best drivers according to the metrics above? Massachusetts.
Here are the top 10:
1. Massachusetts
2. Utah
3. Nebraska
4. Vermont
5. Maine
6. New York
7. Connecticut
7. Ohio (tie)
9. Kansas (tie)
10. New Hampshire
Now which state has the worst drivers? Mississippi ranks worst, for the third year in a row.
Here are the worst 10:
1. Mississippi
2. Nevada
3. Tennessee
4. Florida
5. California
6. Arizona
7. Texas (tie)
7. South Carolina (tie)
9. New Mexico
10. Alaska
Tell us in the comments below which state you think has the worst drivers. We’re curious to hear what you say.
To see the full list and see where your state stands, click here.
##RVT956
I moved from New York to Florida 14 years ago. What a eye opener as the drivers are really nuts in Florida. I here comments they came from the north, if so did they forget how to drive. Turn signals are not needed on Florida cars as they are never used. And the high speed drivers that zig zag thru traffic and cut you off so close you have to slam on brakes to avoid hitting them are a every day happening
And don’t forget the incredibly STUPID LAW in Florida, where you have to give way to traffic merging onto the interstate (the only state in the US that has such a Law). Example: You are going 70 MPH on the Hiway and someone is coming on the HIway, they have the right of way over you! If you don’t give way, you get the ticket!
Sounds like Italy where anything coming from your right side has the right of way. (We were stationed at Naples, Italy, from May ’88 to May ’92)
Same in France. I once had a gendarme actually hit a French driver with his baton for hitting me when I was coming from the right.
No such law.
I’m shocked. Living in PA, on the border of New Jersey, I would have sworn it was NJ. I think they actually have a law that it’s illegal to use turn signals.
Close, but Turn Signals in all 50 states, now days, are just optional!
Brian, I lived in Bucks County, PA and drove 75,000-80,000 miles per year in New Jersey, Delaware, Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia and of course, PA. I feel whoever invented the circle on main roads should have been shot! People living in FL and GA have no idea what “rush hour” traffic jams are. Driving in Southern CA on the 5, 15 & 8; the NJ Turnpike & GSP, I-95 and now I-295 in NJ and PA are prime examples of bad drivers, traffic jams, going from 0 to 20 in bumper to bumper traffic and then slamming on the breaks because one person is picking up their phone from the floor or shaving and putting on make-up are daily observations. Don’t forget that when a person on the opposite side of the road has a flat tire or breakdown, everyone on your side of the road has to slow from 60 to 10 mph to see what’s going on. Safe drivers, are far and few between.
Howdy neighbor. I’m in Bucks County also (Langhorne).
I retired to Henderson NV from SoCal. I’m convinced DL here are obtained by sending in 3 box tops from your favorite cereal!
The criteria they use does not really mean bad drivers. Drive a RV or Semi through any congested area, to really see how bad the drivers are. How many avoid rush hour because of the way drivers maneuver their vehicles to gain 2 lengths faster to the next stop light.
It has been my experience that Oregon and Florida drivers either drive too slow or too fast, Virginia drivers love to tailgate, Maryland drivers don’t believe in lane divisions, Washington drivers pull over to wait out cloudbursts, and California drivers go as fast as they think they can get away with, but California drivers used to be some of the safest drivers. I say “used to be” because I haven’t been there in a few years.
Pulling over for a cloudburst is bad?
At least they got out of your way!
If you pull over for a cloud burst in Florida, you are always pulling over AND you will get rear-ended.
The problem with the study cited is that the metrics chosen were not the best to answer the question asked. I would have gone with something like the number of moving violation tickets per 1,000 licensed drivers and the number of traffic accidents per 1,000 licensed drivers. That would have been much more accurate and would have put Massachusetts near the bottom of the list.
That method would tell us which states have the most or least efficient and effective traffic cops, but not which state has the best or worst drivers.
Agreed
FATAL ACCIDENTS:
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), *MA* has the fewest fatalities per million miles traveled at 0.54
https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state
The 10 worst are:
Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Alaska, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina
ACCIDENTS:
According to World Atlas, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/us-states-with-the-most-car-accidents.html
“Speeding, careless driving, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and poor weather conditions are among the major causes of road accidents in the US. As indicated by the statistics provided, the rate of accidents varies from state to state. Florida, Tennessee, Arizona, South Carolina and North Carolina are among the states with the highest rates of accidents. The states of *Massachusetts*, North Dakota, Minnesota, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Vermont, and Alaska have relatively low rates of car accidents.”
South Carolina should be number one on the “worst “ list. I recently moved to the Carolinas
And the morning TV news features dozens of accidents every day…rain or shine.
Compared to the state of New York the AM and PM accident rates are out of control at
“Rush-hour”….IMHO South Carolina drivers are the “tail-gating champions of the world”…
inches off your rear bumper at 70 MPH.
No wonder they all love NASCAR racing and the spectacular crashes…just like everyday
Commuter rush hour !
The worst drivers? That’s easy…everyone else!
Did the people who compiled this list live in OHIO? Because I may live in Florida and during the Snow Bird season, the Ohio driven cars are operated by morons. Never use signals when turning and when they do, they just leave them on forever. Love to drive in the left hand lane and sightsee. (always well below the speed limit). How about they make all their phone calls before they get into their cars. PS, texting in Florida while operating your vehicle is illegal .
We have been full time RVers for 13 years and hands down when we see a bad driver they usually have a California license plate. They cut in front of an RV with little to no regard to the fact that our stopping distance is far greater than that of a car. They constantly weave through traffic and have no problem just cutting someone off. I have even seen a California driver go right over a concrete parking spot barrier!!
Just remember an awful lot of those drivers learned to drive someplace OTHER than CA.
After taking cabs in Boston, where cabbies run red lights as a rule, not an exception, how did MA make the #1 “best driver” list?
FATAL ACCIDENTS:
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), MA has the fewest fatalities per million miles traveled at 0.54
https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state
The 10 worst are:
Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Alaska, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina
ACCIDENTS:
According to World Atlas, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/us-states-with-the-most-car-accidents.html
“Speeding, careless driving, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and poor weather conditions are among the major causes of road accidents in the US. As indicated by the statistics provided, the rate of accidents varies from state to state. Florida, Tennessee, Arizona, South Carolina and North Carolina are among the states with the highest rates of accidents. The states of Massachusetts, North Dakota, Minnesota, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Vermont, and Alaska have relatively low rates of car accidents.”
Florida has the worst on the east coast. Finding a growing problem in the Carolinas. The main reason is the influx of older people from NY, NJ, CT where they either never had to drive or drove terribly as a rule.
Captn, it is not the older people, but the 20 to 40 crowd, down here, that create the accidents. Which kinda may seem backwards.
Yes Florida is bad but not just in Snow Bird Season. The locals act just the same driving over, way over the speed limit, cut you off, no turn signals, it’s crazy. And why is Georgia not on any list. I guess no one has driven around or through Atlanta. Same thing, no respect. Defensive driving has become the norm for us. Stay well, Stay safe.
Wait! Are you telling me that in Florida, turn signals are included as standard equipment??? I thought they were an option that most of the drivers year round never use!
Mike, if you want to have turn signals on a car in Florida, you have to go out of state to buy it – then pay a tax to bring it into the state (last part is true). In the last 60 years this place has gone to the STUPID. Florida is HIGH on the list for killing pedestrians and bicyclists.
Oh, Red Lights don’t necessarily mean STOP, here in the Bay Area either.
FATAL ACCIDENTS:
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), MA has the fewest fatalities per million miles traveled at 0.54
https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state
The 10 worst are:
Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Alaska, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina
ACCIDENTS:
According to World Atlas, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/us-states-with-the-most-car-accidents.html
“Speeding, careless driving, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and poor weather conditions are among the major causes of road accidents in the US. As indicated by the statistics provided, the rate of accidents varies from state to state. Florida, Tennessee, Arizona, South Carolina and North Carolina are among the states with the highest rates of accidents. The states of Massachusetts, North Dakota, Minnesota, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Vermont, and Alaska have relatively low rates of car accidents.”
I’m surprised MI and IL drivers aren’t on the worst list. They are rude at minimum.
over the past 30 years I have travelled to all 50 states. Hands down the most uncourteous divers are in Massachusetts.
Back in the Dark Ages, when I lived in Connecticut, I was convinced they were the worst drivers. The state police were constantly pushing the “Speed Kills” mantra, and it seemed to be successful. Folks believed that speed was the only thing that killed. Consequently, I frequently observed people doing incredibly stupid and dangerous things — but that was okay because they were doing them slowly and thus safely. (Like slowly driving down a freeway on-ramp. Too bad about the neighbor who met a tractor-trailer coming up.) Incidentally, after moving to Virginia, I noticed that the faster-moving cars often had Connecticut license plates, like they had been let out of school.
Naturally, lousy driving folks from the few good states all move to the warm states and make them bad driving states. I wish they would all move back home to yankeeland.
Ask auto insurance companies. USAA told my son, who lives in Florida, the only state that has higher premiums than Florida…..is Michigan.
I can’t put much faith in that list. Anyone who has driven in the eastern half of MA for more than 10 minutes will most likely put them at the other end of the list, as well as most of CT and southern NY.
My own ongoing research is based on observation of driving behavior across the US rather than fancy statistics. Clearly hands down the worse most violent drivers are from Texas both in state and out of state. Their motto “Drive Friendly the Texas Way” is a bigger lie than ‘the check is in the mail’. California comes second because of the complete disregard they have for every other driver “It’s OK, we’re from California” – the place that gave you Rodney King and his PCP fueled ride, OJ and his white Bronco, and drive-by shootings. Colorado is third due to their speed/tailgating driving style and the influx of Texas and California drivers. Speed signs are there just to annoy people “No one tells me how fast or slow to drive – this is America”. Plus everyone drives a pick-up and has a mustache. Illinois and Michigan are also in the mix – they abandon cars in the left lane in Illinois and Michigan drivers are just plain old speed demons.
The best drivers can be found in the Midwest especially the Dakotas and Nebraska and Minnesota (except for Minneapolis). The are courteous, knowledgeable and will wave at you, even from a harvesting combine. Upstate New York also has good drivers and probably wish NYC was a separate states so as to not be associated with them. Seems that driving is a good indicator of the character of the people there and their priorities.
Minnesota has historically been good in my experience at least since the late 90s early 2000s. However, somewhere along the line, turn signalling has become optional for too many. Saint Cloud, MN in particular has some deplorable drivers that don’t or won’t signal, make abrupt lane changes (again without signaling) sometimes even two lanes at a time, make U-turns nearly on top of oncoming traffic, fail how to grasp how to navigate a roundabout, and obviously don’t get the concept of a highway acceleration lane, and so, end up blocking a line of cars at either end during rush hour. For the last, it works just the same as a freeway on ramp. So, unless the traffic literally bumper-to-bumper JUST GO. Then find a likely slot, for the love of God SIGNAL your intent, and then merge into traffic. Most will yield for you. All except my cousin Kathy who lives in Lakeville, MN. So be extra wary down there for a white middle-aged woman who should have been named Karen.
That first list in non-sense, Massachusetts has a name all their own for the state’s drivers, they are call Massholes… ask anybody from NH, they’ll tell ya. 🙂