The Cities with the Best and Worst Drivers in America

The Cities with the Best and Worst Drivers in America

If you asked someone what city had the WORST drivers, the answer would be easy:  The one that they’re driving in . . . RIGHT NOW.

But for a more scientific answer, “Consumer Affairs” analyzed data from the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

Then, they ranked cities based on four factors:  Crash fatalities per 100,000 people . . . the number of fatalities due to bad driving . . . DUI . . . and speeding.

“Bad driving” included stuff like:  Driving the wrong way in one-way traffic . . . failing to yield . . . aggressive / careless driving . . . making improper turns . . . and recklessly changing lanes and tailgating on busy roads.

In the end, the U.S. city with the WORST drivers is:  Waterbury, Connecticut.

Memphis has the second-worst drivers.

The rest of the 10 WORST are:  Baton Rouge, Louisiana . . . North Charleston, South Carolina . . . Odessa, Texas . . . Knoxville . . . Rialto, California . . . Jurupa Valley, California . . . Kansas City . . . and Hesperia, California.

A few other big cities in the 50 WORST are:  Tucson (#11) . . . Dallas (#14) . . . Cleveland (#17) . . . Milwaukee (#25) . . . Little Rock (#26) . . . Houston (#30) . . . Phoenix (#31) . . . Nashville (#40) . . . Omaha (#41) . . . Detroit (#47).

They considered a whopping 338 cities overall.

The city with the BEST drivers is Salinas, California . . . with Olathe, Kansas as the runner-up.

The rest of the 10 BEST are:  Coral Springs, Florida . . . Lowell, Massachusetts . . . New York City (???) . . . Carmel, Indiana . . . Oxnard, California . . . Elgin, Illinois . . . San Mateo, California . . . and Meridian, Idaho.

(ConsumerAffairs.com has the full ranking.  According to their map, the cities with the worst drivers generally seem to be focused in the South.)