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The Worst Drivers

Randy Weivoda
@RandyWeivoda
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(Photo Spirit, Shutterstock. Stock Photo ID: 738738481)

I saw an article at Forbes that lists the large American cities with the worst drivers. @EKentGolding, you live in (or near, I guess) #3! Memphis is #2, and Albuquerque is ranked the very worst. Apparently Memphis has a lot of drunk driving and I know @DaveCarter has often talked about the frequency of drive-by shootings in Memphis.

I was kind of surprised that Chicago is not in the list. Maybe drivers there have improved, because if I had to name a big city I've driven in where I have seen discourteous drivers -- and especially reckless taxi drivers -- it would be Chicago.

What's been your experience? Does the Forbes list seem about right to you? What are the worst behaviors you commonly see?

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Discussion (71)

  • She@She

    I've said for many decades, and independent of geographic location, that the worst drivers are old men wearing hats.

    It never fails.

    The only ones worse--in the US--are old men wearing hats whose cars have Ohio license plates, and--in Canada--old men wearing hats whose cars have Ontario license plates.

    Change my mind.

    (The "old men in hats" business is one of those wonderful things where a person has an idée fixe on a particular issue for years, and eventually decides to look for confirmation on the Internet that others have seen the same sort of thing. A bit of noodling around with search terms along the lines that "old men with hats are terrible drivers" will find lots of supportive anecdotal evidence. LOL.)

  • Internet's Hank@HankRhody

    I don't buy it. I've driven plenty in Milwaukee. I've driven some in California. I'd rather drive in Milwaukee (#19 on the map) Than the more populous parts of California. Come to think of it, the map lists Fresno too, and I didn't have a problem driving there.

  • Dr. Bastiat@drbastiat

    Since I've moved to Hilton Head, I've started looking both ways at traffic circles.

    I wish I were kidding.

    Everyone here is old, and they all start drinking at lunch. By mid-afternoon, it's pandemonium out there. We have some of the highest car insurance rates in America. And there's a reason for that.

  • Randy Weivoda@RandyWeivoda

    It looks like this list is really only dealing with fatal car crashes. So you could have a city full of inconsiderate jerks, but as long as they aren't killing each other in car crashes, they're off the hook.

    To determine which cities have the worst drivers, Forbes Advisor compared the 50 most populated cities across the following five metrics:

    • Number of fatal car accidents per 100,000 city residents: 24% of score.
    • Number of fatal car accidents involving a drunk driver (blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels of 0.08+) per 100,000 city residents: 19% of score.
    • Number of fatal car accidents involving a distracted driver per 100,000 city residents: 19% of score.
    • Number of fatal car accidents involving speeding per 100,000 city residents: 19% of score.
    • Number of people killed in fatal crashes per 100,000 city residents: 19% of score.

    So they aren't counting a whole lot of other bad behavior, such as shooting at other motorists.

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