The worst drivers in America live here

May 6, 2022

Plenty of Americans like to complain that their city has the worst drivers. In fact, doing so is something of a national pastime. After all, grumbling that no one on the road knows how to drive is a relatively harmless way to blow off steam during stressful daily commutes.

Recently, drivers have had even more to complain about, as rates of dangerous driving behavior, including speeding, are on the rise across America. Many motorists picked up bad driving habits during the COVID-19 pandemic’s initial shelter-in-place orders, and unfortunately, have continued those dangerous practices into 2022.

While not all moving violations are equally hazardous, every infraction — from improper backing to reckless driving — represents some level of neglect for the rules of the road. Curious to see where drivers break traffic laws most often, the data scientists at Insurify turned to their database of over 4.6 million car insurance applications to identify the city in each state with the worst drivers in 2022.

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Insights

National averages. Across the U.S., 17.2% of drivers have an at-fault violation on record. For context, this is about the same proportion of U.S. men standing 6’2” or taller, or U.S. women standing 5’6” or taller.
In top cities, bad driving rates are soaring. Among the worst driving cities in the nation, an average of 20.7% of drivers have a prior at-fault violation. In the top ten worst driving cities in the country, this share rises to a whopping 25.4%, or more than 1 out of every 4 drivers. Drivers in these cities are cited for at-fault traffic violations 48% more often than the national average. Ohio has higher rates of poor driving than any other state; four of the state’s metro areas rank among the nation’s ten worst driving cities. Canton, Ohio, has the highest traffic infraction rate in the nation.
Which city has the best drivers? Bragging rights go to Waterbury, Connecticut, which has the lowest traffic infraction rate of any city in the U.S. Only 10.3% of Waterbury drivers have a prior traffic violation on record, a share that’s 40% lower than the national average. Connecticut has two additional cities, Bridgeport and New Haven, among the 10 safest driving cities in the country. Even the state’s worst driving city — Hartford — still has an at-fault infraction rate that’s 21% lower than the national average.

Here is the city with the worst drivers by state.

Note: Due to insufficient metropolitan area data, Alaska, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wyoming were excluded from this analysis.

Image Credit: Insurify.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 22.1% (10% greater than state average)

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Peoria, Arizona

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 19.8% (18% greater than state average)

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Fayetteville, Arkansas

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 20.7% (20% greater than state average)

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Palmdale, California

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 22.4% (28% greater than state average)

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Fort Collins, Colorado

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 24.1% (13% greater than state average)

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Hartford, Connecticut

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 13.6% (19% greater than state average)

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Dover, Delaware

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 18.4% (22% greater than state average)

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Gainesville, Florida

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 20.9% (42% greater than state average)

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Savannah, Georgia

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 22.0% (10% greater than state average)

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Honolulu, Hawaii

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 16.3% (5% greater than state average)

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Boise, Idaho

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 26.4% (18% greater than state average)

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Rockford, Illinois

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 17.0% (13% greater than state average)

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Evansville, Indiana

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 21.8% (10% greater than state average)

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Des Moines, Iowa

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 25.6% (19% greater than state average)

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Wichita, Kansas

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 22.0% (8% greater than state average)

Image Credit: Deposit Photos.

Lexington, Kentucky

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 17.7% (22% greater than state average)

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Lafayette, Louisiana

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 17.0% (13% greater than state average)

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Silver Spring, Maryland

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 19.5% (2% greater than state average)

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Worcester, Massachusetts

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 19.8% (9% greater than state average)

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Kalamazoo, Michigan

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 14.9% (22% greater than state average)

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Minneapolis, Minnesota

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 17.4% (2% greater than state average)

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Gulfport, Mississippi

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 15.2% (8% greater than state average)

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Columbia, Missouri

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 22.5% (22% greater than state average)

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Lincoln, Nebraska

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 27.8% (21% greater than state average)

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Sparks, Nevada

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 17.8% (36% greater than state average)

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Trenton, New Jersey

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 13.8% (12% greater than state average)

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Las Cruces, New Mexico

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 17.7% (26% greater than state average)

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Schenectady, New York

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 20.1% (43% greater than state average)

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Raleigh, North Carolina

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 20.1% (5% greater than state average)

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Canton, Ohio

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 28.2% (14% greater than state average)

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Edmond, Oklahoma

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 19.8% (15% greater than state average)

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Salem, Oregon

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 23.9% (14% greater than state average)

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 17.3% (12% greater than state average)

Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.

Columbia, South Carolina

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 24.9% (11% greater than state average)

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Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 23.9% (10% greater than state average)

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Clarksville, Tennessee

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 21.3% (10% greater than state average)

Image Credit: Jugarum of English Wikipedia .

San Angelo, Texas

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 20.4% (33% greater than state average)

Image Credit: Michael Barera / Wiki Commons.

Provo, Utah

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 21.5% (9% greater than state average)

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Newport News, Virginia

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 23.9% (7% greater than state average)

Image Credit: DenisTangneyJr / istockphoto.

Spokane, Washington

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 22.9% (12% greater than state average)

Image Credit: ChrisBoswell / istockphoto.

Charleston, West Virginia

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 15.4% (7% greater than state average)

Image Credit: Sean Pavone / istockphoto.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record: 22.8% (2% greater than state average)

Image Credit: istockphoto.

Methodology

Researchers at Insurify, a site to compare auto insurance rates, turned to their database of over 4.6 million car insurance applications to identify the U.S. cities with the worst drivers in 2022. For every metropolitan area with at least 50,000 residents — the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of an urban area — Insurify’s data scientists compared the number of drivers with a prior at-fault moving violation on record within the last seven years against the overall driving population. The city in each state with the largest share of drivers with an at-fault violation on record was deemed the worst driving city in its respective state in 2022. For states with data on fewer than two cities with a population greater than 50,000, the two largest cities were considered in this analysis.

Due to insufficient metropolitan area data, Alaska, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wyoming were excluded from this analysis.

Population data for each metro area was gathered from the United States Census Bureau.

The findings in this article represent statistical trends found in Insurify’s analysis of over 4.6 million car insurance applications. The findings of this study are not meant to imply the direction nor necessarily the existence of a causal relationship. Rather, this is a presentation of statistical correlations of public interest.

This article originally appeared on Insurify.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.

Image Credit: tommaso79 / istockphoto.