20 Cities With the Worst Drivers

Ask anyone around you and they will swear their own city is the one filled with the worst drivers in the country. You know the ones I’m talking about, too. The people who drive side by side on a two-lane highway or interstate, both going slow and neither one passing the other so that the people behind them who actually enjoy driving at least the speed limit can pass. The people who cut you off by pulling out in front of you despite no one being even remotely visible behind you, causing you slam on your brakes and then they stay 20 miles below the speed limit the rest of your trip. The people who are on the phone and not watching the road, the tailgaters and the people with the music blaring so loud you can feel yourself moving to the beat and everyone in between; bad drivers are everywhere. But, no, really they are literally everywhere in these 20 cities. They’re ranked as the cities with the worst drivers in the country.

Tampa

It’s a beautiful city, but it’s also one in which a number of people make the news each year for doing some very questionable things, and abiding by traffic laws is not one of them. In fact, it’s a city less than an hour from my home and I hate driving here so much that I’ll go out of my way to go anywhere in the city that does not involve taking a major highway – even if it does take me twice as long.

Houston

The people here are approximately 31% more likely to end up in an accident than anywhere else in the country. That’s a big percentage. It doesn’t seem like a huge percent when you’re talking about a sale item, but put that number on your chances of being hit by an idiot driver on the road and it becomes progressively larger. But I guess in Texas everything is bigger; including the danger on the roads.

Austin

The city has a vibrant nightlife, a great employment rate and a low cost of living. Beer is also really inexpensive here and it’s one of the cities in the country with the most drunk drivers on the road, so it does make sense that people here would be somewhere around 30% more likely to end up in an accident when they leave their home.

Cincinnati

If you are a Cincinnati native, you know what a hassle it is to get into an accident here. Half the people that work in the city live across the river in a completely different state, which means that insurance companies make the process of dealing with an accident that much more miserable. Nationwide statistics, however, that that you’re 36% more likely to get into an accident in Cincy than you are anywhere else in the nation. That’s a pretty big number.

Seattle

Since it’s either raining or misting or snowing or basically wet and foggy here, you’d think that Seattle would actually be a bit higher on the list of worst drivers ever, but it’s not. It’s actually a lot farther down the list than we might have imagined. But that does not change the fact that this is one city that ranks 16^th on the list of worst drivers in the country. It’s better than being in the top 10, but considering how many cities there are in America, it’s sad all the way around.

Dallas

When was the last time you were in an accident? I don’t want to jinx myself or anything, but the last time I was in an accident was when I was 21. This fourth of July weekend will mark 10 years since my husband and I were hit head on by a drunk driver doing 60 miles per hour who was not only drunk when he hit us, but actually got out of his car and walked into the convenience store near where our accident happened and bought himself another beer. I’m not even kidding for a second. If you live in Dallas, however, your average time frame between accidents is going to be 7 years. Most people never get into one.

Portland

A lot of people spend the vast majority of their time biking and walking through this lovely city, so it’s a little bit of a surprise to know that you are 37% more likely to end up involved in a motor vehicle accident here than anywhere else in the country. Well, we suppose that someone has to have bad drivers, so it might as well be Portland. Everything else they have is pretty nice, so it all works out in the end.

Buffalo

This is a city that’s just not having any luck. It’s on a lot of lists all of a sudden, and few of them are good. It’s got a high crime rate. The job market is dismal, the cost of living isn’t impressive and the number of people who live here and below the poverty line is quite impressive. It’s actually really sad and really disgusting just how bad drivers are around here, getting into an accident on average every 7 years.

Atlanta

Only six hours from my house, we used to drive to Atlanta at least once a year to see the Gators play in the SEC title game (we won several of them, but those days left with Tebow and Meyer) and I can assure you that Atlanta always has traffic; always. Mid-day, rush hour, middle of the night – with this much traffic every single minute of every single day, no one is surprised that most of the people who live here get into an accident every few years at least.

Newark

This is another city that just doesn’t do well on lists. Sure, it ranks high on a lot of lists, but none are good. This New Jersey city has bad drivers, a high crime rate, a high drug trafficking rate and it’s got a lot of crime. It’s close to New York City, though, so that’s nice for people who want to live somewhere a little bit more affordable but still close to the city, even if they will have to buy a new car every time they turn around.

New Orleans

Since most of the people in this city seem to be a bit inebriated every single minute of the day, and it’s known as being a party city, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that you’re 40% more likely to get into an accident here. What we do wonder, however, is whether or not this statistic includes just residents of the city or visitors as well, because it’s the visitors that usually end up being the drunkest.

Oakland

Most people around here assume your chances of being involved in an accident would be far worse across the bridge in San Fran, but they’d be incorrect. It’s actually much more likely that you’d end up in an accident in Oakland. It’s got a high crime rate and you’re 42% more likely to end up in an accident, whether you cause the accident or not, if you’re driving around here. It seems like you might just want to stay in San Francisco.

Miami

We aren’t surprised to see Miami on the list considering the fact that this is a city filled with tourists, foreigners and people who aren’t overly familiar with the rules of the road in this country. And that includes the people who’ve lived here their entire lives, too. The people here are too distracted by just about everything else to worry about things like driving the car of which they are behind the wheel. It’s a dangerous, but beautiful place to visit. The good news is that your hospital room comes with a great view.

Pittsburgh

This is a city in which many of the people work in the research field, but they’re not particularly good at driving. We wonder if they did the research for the information we have about the worst drivers in the country in Pitt? It would make sense considering the fact that they rank among the worst drivers in the entire country. The vast majority of people here are involved in an accident of some sort at least every 6 years.

Los Angeles

There’s a lot of traffic here, so it would make sense that there are a lot of accidents and bad drivers. But what kills me is that every single time I find myself in LA traffic it’s at a complete standstill. How on earth are people who are not even moving an inch capable of being involved in so many accidents, especially in comparison to the cities across the country in other locations?

San Francisco

Remember when we said that if you were in Oakland you might just want to stay in San Francisco since the bad drivers were in Oakland? Well, we are liars. You’d rather just not drive in either location since you’re more than likely to get into an accident every 6 years in San Francisco than you are in any other location across the country. The people here are not very good drivers, but that’s probably because the roads are so windy and most of the views are so pretty.

Philadelphia

It’s called the city of brotherly love, but you have a better chance of being offered drugs, getting into a car accident, losing your job and living well below the line of poverty here than just about any other location in the country. The city is anything but loving these days, and it’s so bad that you don’t even want to drive here, even though you’ll feel safer than you will walking most of the streets. Drivers in Philly are 64% more likely to end up in an accident here than anywhere else in the country. That’s pretty awful.

Baltimore

If you want to get a new car on a regular basis without feeling bad or being accused of being a money waster, you should move to Baltimore. You’re going to be involved in an accident on average every 5 years, so you’ll have an excuse to get a new car each time. You know, we could really be onto something around here, but we just cannot be overly certain of that.

Washington D.C.

Traffic is slightly heavy here, and anytime the President leaves his house to go anywhere it gets even worse. But really, does the nation’s capital seem like it would be a place in which you have a 97% higher chance of being involved in an automobile accident than anywhere else in the country? The rate seems awfully high. I’m not a mathematician by any means, but 97% is pretty much the same thing as 100% in my book, and that makes me never want to be in a car here. I’ll parachute out of my next flight, thanks.

Boston

We love Boston; it’s gorgeous. But the drivers here are pretty awful. It’s not like they had to get a special degree or anything either, but it seems that the smarter and more successful you are, the worse you drive. It’s a fairly affluent city, but the people here can’t drive. They can graduate places like Harvard and obtain amazing jobs and beautiful homes, but no one teaches them to drive those fast cars. You get on the road here and you’re 129% more likely to get into an accident. Again with my non-mathematical skills, but that’s a lot higher than 100%.