California Drivers Ranked The Worst in the United States in Annual Study

[sl8]

Last edited Sat Dec 16, 2017, 11:10 AM - Edit history (1)

Today I'm seeing quite a few news articles based on these drivers' rankings by an outfit called QuoteWizard:

Best and Worst Drivers by State 2017
https://quotewizard.com/news/posts/best-and-worst-drivers-by-state-2017


I've no idea how accurate or valid their rankings are, I assume they're best consumed with a liberal dose of salt, but what caught my interest was the difference in the headlines, based on the location of the media outlet. Not at all surprising, but I found it interesting.

Also, it's not really news, anyway - who didn't already know that California drivers are the worst?



California Drivers Ranked The Worst in the United States in Annual Study
https://timesofsandiego.com/life/2017/12/14/california-drivers-ranked-the-worst-in-the-united-states-in-annual-study/

Study: Minnesotans among worst drivers, insist on doing it anyway
http://www.citypages.com/news/study-minnesotans-among-worst-drivers-insist-on-doing-it-anyway/464136283

Utah drivers improve! Now they’re only 3rd worst in the nation.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/12/14/utah-drivers-improve-now-they-are-only-3rd-worst-in-nation/

Washington state drivers 5th worst in nation — and trending in the wrong direction, new study says
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/washington-state-drivers-5th-worst-in-nation-and-trending-in-the-wrong-direction-new-study-says/

Oregon ranked 18th for state with worst drivers
http://katu.com/news/local/oregon-ranked-18th-for-state-with-worst-drivers

You already knew Idaho drivers were bad. Now an insurance website has confirmed it
http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article189724314.html

-
Arkansas One of the Best Driving States
http://www.nwahomepage.com/news/fox-24/arkansas-one-of-the-best-driving-states/880989242

Florida drivers ranked 2nd best in U.S.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/believe-it-or-not-florida-drivers-ranked-2nd-best-in-u-s-

Study: Michigan drivers are some of the best in the country
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/study-michigan-drivers-are-some-of-the-best-in-the-country

[spanone]

1. they obviously didn't factor in Tennessee

[TheBlackAdder]

2. Back in the 80s it used to be, what was termed, "Massholes."

[CentralMass]

8. It is still a thing.

[Lochloosa]

3. Come to Florida in the winter.

[flamingdem]

51. We know Florida has the WORST drivers, from raging drunks crossing four lanes

in Miami to the elderly putt putting along and sometimes off the road

[Takket]

4. Michigan 4th best drivers in the country?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[beaglelover]

5. Totall agree. The drivers suck out here. I use my horn multiple times a day.

[ret5hd]

6. So...uhhhhmmm...you're OK, but have you ever...

checked out the carnage in your rear-view mirror?

(i kid, i kid)

[jaysunb]

7. There are more than 40 million of us here.

We all have a car or two. We tend to drive at the same time, on the same roads and highways. Given the shear numbers, I think we do pretty well compared to most of the "slower paced " areas used to make this comparison.

[ret5hd]

9. What's "slower paced" than a CA freeway at rush hour?

[kwassa]

28. The DC Beltway

[pangaia]

53. Lolololol9l

[still_one]

12. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[lunasun]

63. I dunno total freak out from some rain when I was there and I kept thinking

Please do not come to Chicago and drive during rush hour in a big snow storm because you all would be dead or kill people

The state also is lacking useful public transportation IMO

[REP]

10. When it rains, the highway I live on is strewn with overturned cars

It’s one of the most dangerous highways in the US, but still. It rains every fucking year here yet some people freak out and do stupid things.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. What highway? Where?

If I'm ever there I want to know to avoid that road in rain.

[REP]

17. By all means avoid 17 at all times always

Santa Cruz Mountains. Even dry it’s dangerous.

[Adsos Letter]

62. Lark avenue.

I drive from Fairfield to Los Gatos pretty regularly (680 to 17). It often takes me as long to make the 6-7 miles from Lark Avenue to Los Gatos as it does to do the 60 miles from my place to Lark Avenue.

And don’t get me started on the Sunol Grade, or the 680-24 merge at Walnut Creek. I made the trek last night, and it was especially bad.

[mulsh]

11. First hand reports from Spanish Colonial day (1770-c.1810) complain about recklessly fast

horse and carriage drivers of California. All most all of the descriptions of this era contain at last an aside about this issue. So it's probably an environmental aspect that needs exploring.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

13. I've had lots of people assure me that the worst drivers are in their state.

Often they're people who don't travel much, haven't driven in other places.

There are terrible drivers everywhere. In Santa Fe, where I live, people apparently think the traffic light turning red is just a mild suggestion that they might want to consider stopping. I have never seen a place where people so routinely run red lights. On a recent trip to Tucson I marveled at how the drivers actually stopped for a red light.

[sl8]

15. I like the MN headline.

It sounds like it could've been adapted from a headline about a Masters & Johnson study.

(Not necessarily about Minnesotans)

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Interesting That More Subjective Items. . .

. . .like driver courtesy are not factored in.

Having been to SoCal many, many times, i found, absent gridlock, that it's one of the easiest states for merging onto a freeway from an entrance ramp. People give space even though they might be going 70. I find that less the case here in Illinois, and we ended up 7th best.

I've found Atlanta to be really good in this regard, having driven down there probably 50 or 60 times.

I've found northern NJ to be really bad in this regard, but it's better as you get down closer to Philly.

Then we include tickets for speeding, and i honestly believe one would have to be going 80 on I-55 before a state trooper would ticket someone. (And that's in the 60 or 65 zone.) So, if the cops just don't issue tickets for all but egregious violations, of course ticket count would be lower.

Here in warehouse central (about 50 miles south of Chicago) i see lots of citations for safety and load issues with the gazillion trucks. I'm surprised the shear number of those doesn't push Illinois to a higher citation level.

The DUI thing pretty much goes without challenge though.

[Downtown Hound]

19. I love California and have lived here for more than 30 years...

But I have to concur with the results of this study.

[Codeine]

20. That because traffic conditions here

are a bit more involved than a tractor moving to the adjacent field and two guys on the side of the road having a fucking banjo duel. #hillbilliesarejealous

[pangaia]

55. Lol

[Irish_Dem]

21. A family member moved to California and got a ticket for driving too slow. :(

Kind of tells the story about California drivers.

(And she originally came from a city notorious for bad drivers.)

[nini]

36. Well, driving below the speed limit is dangerous

Especially with the volume of cars here.

[Irish_Dem]

37. She was going ten miles over the speed limit.

And when she told the police officer this fact, he told her the law was to follow the traffic not the
speed limit.

[nini]

41. Oh I love that one..

You're supposed to go as fast as everyone else.. OR you were exceeding the limit and you're not supposed to even if everyone else is.

They use whatever one fits at the moment.

[Irish_Dem]

43. Yes she still tells this story, it was a bizarre introduction to California driving. nt

[nini]

46. I take 2 bridges to work

Lots of trucks near the harbor and idiots trying to get to the freeway. The speed limit is 45 and if you're going 65 it's too slow.

There's one spot on the land between the bridges where the highway patrol sits and those of us who drive it every day know where he is and slow down before we get to it. The newbies get so annoyed and their aggressive behavior is usually what nails them. I enjoy passing them down the road after they've been pulled over

[Irish_Dem]

47. Wow, 20 miles over the speed limit is too slow.

And you have to know when to speed up and slow down.

[nini]

50. Yep

It's even more fun in the fog

[Irish_Dem]

58. Yikes.

[Cicada]

22. Many people new to driving

In the annual survey among LA cabbies on which immigrant group drives worst I remember one quote: there’s a reason every driving school car has Korean writing on it.

I think they previously used public transportation.

[haele]

23. Part of the problem is our freeway and highway signage...

Spouse and I both learned to drive out of state, where signs were posted well before the exit and each exit was clearly numbered.
I can't tell you how many times a day we see someone who obviously wasn't paying attention and suddenly realized s/he was on the wrong side of the road for the exit they wanted.
It's also very frustrating for those who aren't good sight navigators to see the sign for your exit halfway down the off ramp...because we also don't typically have access roads running alongside our freeways, so if you miss an exit, you're often stuck with a 15 to 20 mile trip just to get somewhere to turn around.

California is a big state...

Haele

[maveric]

24. I agree.

Worst-ever in San Diego. And I grew up driving in Boston.

[DFW]

25. Whoever did the study forgot to visit Boston

Just take a look at some of the rules of street traffic in Boston:

Where most States have a penalty for "avoiding an intersection," in Boston, you get a moving violation for "avoiding a pedestrian."

In Boston, you get a ticket and a $25 fine if you stop for a green light, a $50 fine if you stop for a yellow light, and a $500 fine if you stop for a red light.

In Boston, if you have a chance to overtake the car in front of you and you don't take it, you face a $250 fine or losing your license for a month or both.

In Boston, you get a ticket if your are caught going the right way down a one-way street.

etc.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Boston. It just scares the living shit outta me every time I have to drive there.

[underpants]

26. My Star Trek comparison to East Coast drivers

New Jersey drivers are like Klingons - there's no doubt they are bad
New York drivers are like Romulans - they might be bad or maybe not
Pennsylvania drivers are The Borg - they spread out in every direction creating chaos and pulling you into their web of mayhem.

Virginia drivers are just confused from all the merging especially in Richmond.

[bearsfootball516]

27. I like in Florida and I can tell you, drivers here are NOT the second best in the United States...

[liberaltrucker]

30. You got THAT right.

I 95 from Jupiter to Miami is a practice track for NASCAR.

[ornotna]

48. When it's not a parking lot. Nt

[lpbk2713]

29. I would have to challenge Florida at #49.

The tourists and snowbirds are unfamiliar with the open roads and city driving can be confusing with one way streets and traffic lights and stop signs appearing unexpectedly.

[smirkymonkey]

31. I always heard MA drivers were the worst.

Particularly Boston drivers. This surprised me.

[Dirty Socialist]

40. Been There

There are a lot of nutty drivers there

[shanti]

32. Could be...

I'm here in Northern California, and they ARE nuts! Last week, I was coming down the freeway from the foothills, in the slow lane. This jagoff in a big pickup behind me actually attempted to pass me on the right in a merge lane that was almost at the end. When I saw that, I threw my brakes on and he backed off. He exited at the next exit. My adrenaline was pumping for a few minutes afterwards!

We won't even talk about the people driving when they're on their cellphones.

[bdamomma]

33. Well I thought

RI drivers were the worst they are 50 on the list and on the bottom too.

[GoCubsGo]

34. I call bullshit.

There's no way South Carolina is ranked that low. I guess that's because the other three states have more cops on the roads catching the violators. People here think traffic signs and speed limits are optional, at least half ignore them. But, I rarely see police patrolling the roads here. If they did, the backlog in traffic court would take years to deal with. And, that's not counting the ones who are busy texting on their cell phones--which is illegal here.

[bluecollar2]

35. I call bullshit..

Miami, Florida has the most incompetent drivers in the country....

Bar none.

[Dirty Socialist]

42. Never Been There

But I've heard stories...

[ornotna]

45. Agree 100 percent

I'm there regularly, and they are the worst.

[MurrayDelph]

73. This autumn, I had a massive roadtrip

that included (in alphabetical order) Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California (including Los Angeles), Colorado, Florida (including Miami and Orlando), Georgia, Illinois (including Chicago), Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming.

Previous driving experience includes Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts (including Boston), Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York (including Manhattan), North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington State, Washington DC, and Wisconsin. (And those are just the ones I've driven in).

The worst drivers I have ever had to put up with, hands down, are in Miami (and this latest trip included visiting Havana). Leaving Miami lowered my blood pressure 30 of the 50 points it had gained by being there. The remaining 20 points went away when we left Orlando and started driving back to Oregon.

[Dirty Socialist]

38. Been to SF and LA

SF drivers are much worse than LA drivers, IMO.

[Iggo]

39. Yeah and Babe Ruth struck out a lot.

[ornotna]

44. Complete crap

They've never been to Miami or Orlando to rate Florida second best.

[flamingdem]

52. Agree since I've driven in both and LA drivers are pure professionals

and polite compared to Miami drivers.

Miami drivers drink, drive and destroy

[DeminPennswoods]

49. Worse than VA?

That's hard to believe.

[Snackshack]

54. That cannot be right...

No way Az is in the top 10. ☠️

😈

[LisaM]

56. I KNEW Minnesota drivers were bad.

I have been there the last few Christmases and they have this way of changing lanes that is bizarre. I can't even describe it but I have seen a lot of really close calls.

[Kilgore]

57. Obviously they did not factor in the Oregon fast lane hybrid

doing 52 in a 65 just to prove their green. They seem oblivious to the 15-20 other cars backed up behind them.

[doc03]

59. Oh come on give me a break Florida is #49! North Carolina is #25

the worst drivers I ever seen anywhere are in the Charlotte area.

[d_r]

60. Florida?

that makes me question the validity right there

[subterranean]

61. Surprised to see WA so high up on the list.

Most of the drivers here seem exceptionally courteous. There was even a local commercial poking fun at it:

[grantcart]

64. bullshit, CA drivers are kinder to pedestrians than any other state.

AS is open season for pedestrians and bikers

[Awsi Dooger]

65. As a Miamian this has to be a parody

Every time I go on a driving trip it's so relaxing to get away from South Florida lane changing morons. They leave inches to spare and think nothing of it. Then they'll do the same thing 20 yards ahead while veering back into the lane they just departed.

It's primarily hispanic males of any age. Driving here completely changed once hispanics became such a majority. The Cuban culture apparently views driving as some type of competition. None of the lines are respected. Red lights mean 5 more cars can go through. They'll literally honk and holler at you if you're third after red and have the audacity to stop. And as soon as the light turns green there will be horns blaring behind you.

This afternoon I had a lady accelerate to 40 mph to pass me in a 15 mph school zone at 2:30 pm with crossing guards in sight. I'm sure she does the same multiple times per week.

When I return from those out of state trips it's unmistakable that the lane changing terror begins as soon as I reach the Broward County area. North of that Florida is not too bad other than Orlando which is like a junior varsity version of Miami.

Whoever did this study must have ignored Orlando and especially Miami completely.

I went to college in Los Angeles and lived there for several years afterwards. California is not too bad at all.

I'd place Boston near the top as worst I've experienced. But not the idiots like Miami.

Hawaii is easily the most respectful I've ever experienced. It's almost too friendly...waving you to go when it's rightfully their turn.

[pnwmom]

67. How can you notice the racial background of the people when you're driving? I focus on the cars

that I'm maneuvering around, not the faces of the people in the cars.

Driving around Seattle has gotten harder over the years, too, but I don't blame it on the racial composition of the drivers (though we have many more Asian Americans in the suburbs than when I moved here). I blame it on increased traffic.

[Awsi Dooger]

68. It's not exactly difficult

Cashiers here immediately use Spanish or English depending on what the customer looks like. They never get it wrong. I haven't seen 3 examples of getting it wrong. The only thing that sometimes happens is the cashiers assuming the customer must be a Spanish speaker, since it's more than 70% of the population here, so they default to Spanish without looking up.

Likewise when a car is approaching me from behind you can always tell if it will be a lane changing aggressive driver. They take 45 degree angles and barely miss every car. If it's not a Hispanic male behind the wheel I'm surprised. Second most frequent is a Hispanic female.

Driving in Miami is a frequent topic on Miami-specific forums. It's always the same themes...how dangerous it is and how much it changed for the worse as the demographics changed. Believe me, my descriptions are very tame compared to what shows up in those local threads.

The Hispanics in those threads seldom if ever dispute matters. But they try to blame drivers who go too slowly in the left lane. Meanwhile, the problems are hardly confined to the left lane. The lane changing is right to left, then back to the right, then further right into the far right lane, then back to center, then left, and so forth. Those drivers are so tunnel vision they never relax and merely drive. If any lane is 5 feet clear that's the one they have to be in...until a different one is 5 feet clear.

I wish I were exaggerating.

[pnwmom]

69. I have an in-law who is often mistaken for Mexican because he has brown skin and black hair.

When he traveled in Spain people automatically assumed he was Spanish speaking but he doesn't have a bit of Latino or Hispanic or Native American heritage. (They spoke English to his blonde wife, but she was the Spanish speaker.) His coloring and facial features don't make him Mexican-American and they don't make Floridians Cuban. People of MANY different ethnic backgrounds have that coloring.

Also, a cashier gets a few feet away from a customer and has time to get a good look. If you yourself are a good driver, you are not that close to other drivers and you're only glancing at them because your eyes are on the road and other vehicles.

[bluecollar2]

70. I called bullshit in a post above

I am just South of you...the Redland/Cutler Ridge arra.

Moved here last April.

Have lived in Dallas/Fort Worth, Tulsa, Phoenix and San Francisco.

Totally agree with you.

Miami area drivers are for the most part rude, aggressive and incompetent.

I also would agree with all of your characterizations of the drivers.

[pnwmom]

66. I wonder how much of this is related not to driving skills as much as overly crowded roadways. n/t

[CanSocDem]

72. Some driving behaviours are GENDER specific. (eom)

[treestar]

74. I call BS on Delaware being worse than PA

When you go from Delaware to PA, you have to deal with very aggressive drivers!