http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/993/where-the-worst-drivers-live/;_ylc=X3oDMTE5ZmdmcGVkBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawN3b3JzdC1kcml2ZXJz

I made a flash map that provides a visual example. It's at http://www.confluential.org/us/us.swf.

1 IDAHO
1 WISCONSIN
3 MONTANA
4 KANSAS
5 SOUTH DAKOTA
5 NEBRASKA
7 UTAH
8 WYOMING
8 IOWA
8 OREGON
8 MINNESOTA
12 ALASKA
12 NORTH DAKOTA
14 VERMONT
15 COLORADO
15 MISSOURI
17 OKLAHOMA
17 WASHINGTON
19 NEW MEXICO
20 NORTH CAROLINA
21 VIRGINIA
22 INDIANA
22 MICHIGAN
24 ARKANSAS
24 TEXAS
26 ALABAMA
26 NEVADA
28 WEST VIRGINIA
29 ILLINOIS
30 ARIZONA
31 MAINE
32 DELAWARE
33 NEW HAMPSHIRE
34 OHIO
35 KENTUCKY
36 PENNSYLVANIA
37 LOUISIANA
38 TENNESSEE
38 MISSISSIPPI
40 SOUTH CAROLINA
40 MARYLAND
42 CONNECTICUT
43 FLORIDA
44 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
45 MASSACHUSETTS
46 RHODE ISLAND
47 GEORGIA
48 CALIFORNIA
49 HAWAII
50 NEW JERSEY
51 NEW YORK

5/22/2009 11:36:45 PM

WRONG

1. Virginia

...

the rest

[Edited on May 22, 2009 at 11:50 PM. Reason : Virginia being the WORST]

5/22/2009 11:49:20 PM

^ eh, I think you'll find that most of your poor driving in Virginia is b/c of the proximity to these two

40 MARYLAND
42 CONNECTICUT
43 FLORIDA
44 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

And I wonder if Georgia made it on there so low b/c yanks have taken up moving there now instead of Florida? It just a matter of time before they push us to the bottom of the list

[Edited on May 22, 2009 at 11:55 PM. Reason : .]

5/22/2009 11:54:54 PM

Ill second the Virginia one. Ive never seen SO many people STOP while merging onto a highway or interstate, even with a MILE of empty lane ahead of them to merge into traffic with.. Nope, Im going to drive to the end of this on ramp like its my fucking drive way, STOP, THEN look for traffic, wait 10 mins before the entire road is clear then make my move. Just terrible.

I love to honk and you get the hands up response. hahah, worthless

5/23/2009 12:08:15 AM

If someone could embed this: http://www.confluential.org/us/us.swf, it would show you that the more population-dense states have horrible drivers.

5/23/2009 12:45:31 AM

drunk

[Edited on May 23, 2009 at 12:49 AM. Reason : .]

5/23/2009 12:48:24 AM

I don't feel like reading that, what criteria are they using to determine these rankings?

5/23/2009 12:59:14 AM

I was gonna embed but I need the size.

5/23/2009 2:29:49 AM

so you really should have said "best drivers by state" because that's what the list is.

5/23/2009 2:44:01 AM

Quote :

" so you really should have said "best drivers by state" because that's what the list is."

yeah. I was looking at the list and thinking this is exactly the opposite of who the worst drivers are...
Pretty bad fail when you fuck up your own topic.

5/23/2009 4:49:45 AM

wtf florida low

5/23/2009 4:51:27 AM

After traveling through 38 states so far, and growing up 8 miles south of the Virgina state line - I also believe that VA should be moved closer to the top of that list.

5/23/2009 5:12:53 AM

Quote :

"so you really should have said "best drivers by state" because that's what the list is."

5/23/2009 5:36:21 AM

Florida should be WAY higher on that list. Traveling south of I-4 means risking getting run off the road, not to mention 70 mph bumper to bumper traffic.

5/23/2009 6:15:32 AM

^ evidently you didn't read the thread... Florida is one of the worst states, the OP just fucked up the name of his thread. The list is from best drivers to worst drivers, not from worst to best.

5/23/2009 6:41:20 AM

this is one huge fail of a thread

5/23/2009 7:25:13 AM

yeha I was about to say, theres not way we're worse than SC

5/23/2009 8:01:51 AM

oh. it's listed from best to worst.

[Edited on May 23, 2009 at 8:21 AM. Reason : .]

5/23/2009 8:20:35 AM

I still argue the problem with "North Carolina" drivers in the Raleigh area is simply a merging of different driving styles from all over the US into one metropolitan area. That alone causes trouble. And I too didn't bother to read the criteria.

5/23/2009 9:30:49 AM

seriously? New York and New Jersey are at the bottom of this list, and 4th to last is CALIFORNIA? This is shit.

5/23/2009 9:38:41 AM

(bottom is the worst in the list)

5/23/2009 10:44:59 AM

I'm in Jersey and I can confirm, it's fucking terrible.

People will constantly come out into oncoming traffic as if they were driving on an empty street.
People will ride in the opposite lane to drive around cars (as in a bumper to bumper line of 50 cars)
People will pull in front of you on the highway going 15 mph. (there are no on ramps)

[Edited on May 23, 2009 at 11:06 AM. Reason : .]

5/23/2009 11:05:18 AM

Quote :

"m going to drive to the end of this on ramp like its my fucking drive way, STOP, THEN look for traffi"

I hate this shit and see it all the time in Wilmington.

Almost rear-ended some mini-van going into work b.c the on-ramp from Market St. getting onto College Rd has a yield sign (right
turning drivers yielding for car turning left across market). So i was looking on the oncoming traffic making sure no one was
turning left; since no one was i kept cruising but looked in front of me just in time to see this dumb ass bitch in a mini
van nearly come to a Full Fucking Stop for the yield sign.

Quote :

"I also believe that VA should be moved closer to the top of that list."

you know the top of the list is the "best" drivers right?

Quote :

"People will pull in front of you on the highway going 15 mph"

This is when i blare down the horn, with my colorful metaphors, and middle finger sticking up.

5/23/2009 11:22:45 AM

Quote :

"This is when i blare down the horn, with my colorful metaphors, and middle finger sticking up."

Yup, that's pretty much every trip out of the house.

5/23/2009 11:29:31 AM

i trust statisticians, but on a map, this data looks wrong. it looks so obvious that they just took the number of XXX per state and ranked them that way with no correlation to population or population density.

5/23/2009 11:35:58 AM

Well, choosing to do it "by state" is questionable in the first place. Rural New York is probably not much different than rural New Mexico as far as driving is concerned.

5/23/2009 11:51:53 AM

i'd say new mexico is much worse... i have spent some time in new mexico, and there are TONS of drunk drivers all over.

of course, i was in areas with lots of poverty.

5/23/2009 12:09:33 PM

also, this is a ranking of performance on a driver knowledge/safety written test. population density/traffic shouldn't enter into it.

5/23/2009 12:46:40 PM

does it say what the average scores on the test were? test seems easy as shit

5/23/2009 1:10:34 PM

I've seen a lot of shitty driving in Boston every time I've visited there.

5/23/2009 2:57:05 PM

lol

QUICK NOBODY READ

5/23/2009 4:24:06 PM

Virginia has to be the worst, at least in the Hampton Roads section.

5/23/2009 5:13:12 PM

Quote :

" i'd say new mexico is much worse... i have spent some time in new mexico, and there are TONS of drunk drivers all over. of course, i was in areas with lots of poverty Mexicans."

5/23/2009 6:18:16 PM

here's my point, if they are just mapping # of ____ accidents/failed test, etc.

500 people in California is different than 500 people in Iowa if it wasn't converted to a % of population per state.

5/23/2009 7:02:18 PM

I don't understand how people have such a hard time understanding the best-to-worst ranking here... yeah, the thread title is bad, but with New York being 51st the order should be obvious.

5/23/2009 7:19:35 PM

IF IT IS A LIST OF WORST DRIVERS BY STATE, THEN THE WORST SHOULD BE NUMBER ONE.

5/23/2009 7:57:42 PM

I think it could have something to do with population density. Obviously, you're going to have more accidents if it's more crowded, which gives states like New York a bad driver rating. Of course, in Idaho, you can probably drive for hours without seeing another car.

Edit: But apparently, it's not based off of accident rates, it's based off of a survey. It still seems like the "best drivers" are in the states with low population density. I don't think they're really learning to drive better in those states.

[Edited on May 23, 2009 at 8:31 PM. Reason : ]

5/23/2009 8:29:32 PM

Finland. Now those fuckers know how to drive...

Source: Top Gear Season 12 episode 3. I want to go to driving school there. yay.

5/23/2009 10:12:20 PM

Quote :

"WRONG 1. Virginia"

5/24/2009 1:10:42 PM

this would be a better map if it were by county. it might have something to do with the lax standards at urban DMVs versus rural DMVs.

i knew someone who was trying to get her license, but failed the test twice in a row. her friend told her to drive halfway across the county and take the test in the Raleigh DMV. she passed the first time. her reasoning: rural DMVs have nothing better to do but fail you, while urban DMVs would rather pass you and get you out the door.

5/25/2009 4:06:35 AM

Quote :

"WRONG 1. Virginia"

Couldn't agree more.

5/25/2009 9:01:39 AM

Georgia needs to be WAY higher... Atlanta drivers are f'n awful.

5/25/2009 9:18:54 AM

Quote :

" 45 MASSACHUSETTS "

hahaha bullshit. Mass is #1

5/25/2009 9:28:10 AM

oh wait. The list is in reverse order. So i guess its probably right then.

5/25/2009 9:29:29 AM

someone lock this shit and retitle it properly

5/25/2009 9:31:11 AM

i too was confused at first.

i live in WI now and have to say, while no one knows how to merge, there are relatively few problems up here.

5/25/2009 2:02:09 PM

Hawaii should be top ten... I nkow no one knows that b/c hardly anyone has spent very much time there. (especially on this website) But the old Asian woman stereotype rings true all over out here. And, there's A LOT of old Asian women on this island. 35mph on H1 in the left lane... what could go wrong!??!

5/25/2009 5:40:05 PM