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The best and worst drivers in the US by city metro area, 2017 edition

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B_Spooky13

Member
So i actually moved from Greenville,Sc (#16) back to the metro Detroit area. I can say for a fact that there is a huuuuuge difference in driving habits.

I used to be scared to death driving in Greenville. When I lived there the joke between my friends would be "Drivers would run you off the road and kill you to be first in line.. But not have a damn clue where they were going"

In Detroit area.. Don't get me wrong.. Michiganders are very aggressive drivers and you do have your "wtf are you doing?" moments but definitely feels safer.
 
E

Earthbound64

Banned
Also, who the heck wrote that article?

Providence

America's second best drivers hail from the capital of the biggest little state in the union: Providence, Rhode Island. Providence drivers benefit from shockingly short driving distances – residents consider any drive longer than 20 minutes to be a road trip.
Click to expand...

"residents consider any drive longer than 20 minutes to be a road trip"?
BS. Show some sources on that.
Providence -> Boston is 50 miles/1 hour+, and that's not a "road trip."
 
P

peteykirch

Member
I can attest that drivers in Charlotte are also pretty damn bad.

I think it's the NASCAR element where everyone there takes their lifted Ford F450 and thinks they are Dale Sr going down the straights of Daytona.
 
M

madstarr12

Member
I go to school in Riverside, so I witness this and I approve of this rating. The smog at times is absolutely horrid, but it's not bad enough so that you cannot see at least a few miles ahead of you. In the Winter though, it looks pretty nice with the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains in the background covered in snow.
 
Tom Nook

Tom Nook

Member
Worst 20:
1 Sacramento, CA
2 Salt Lake City, UT
3 Riverside, CA
4 Richmond, VA
5 San Diego, CA
6 Los Angeles, CA
7 Columbus, OH
8 Omaha, NE
9 Denver, CO
10 Bakersfield, CA
11 Portland, OR
12 Virginia Beach, VA
13 Bay Area, CA
14 Charlotte, NC
15 Fresno, CA
Click to expand...

I can vouch for these.

I encountered some dumb drivers.

Best 20:
1 Detroit, MI
2 Providence, RI
3 Orlando, FL
4 Miami, FL
Click to expand...

Something good about Florida?.......
 
Golgo 13

Golgo 13

The Man With The Golden Dong
maxcriden said:
That is really scary to hear. I'm glad you and your family are okay!

Here in ATL I feel like we've had a lot of near misses with accidents. Like others I'm surprised it's not higher on the list.
Click to expand...
It's funny too because I've lived in San Diego all my life so I don't have much to compare it to, but people here visiting from out of town are always saying "I can't believe how bad the drivers are here" and I never really took it to heart, but it's interesting to see science behind it (meaning, holy shit it's true).
 
B

Brashnir

Member
FrontalMonk said:
DC should be in the top 3. Place is a goddamn nightmare to drive in.
Click to expand...

While the drivers in and around DC are bad, the hassle of getting around has as much to do with geography and (lack of) roads as the drivers. Interstates get cut down to 2 lanes in their busiest section for no reason, some of them just fucking end in a useless place rather than going all the way through, etc.

Also, good luck getting across that damn river, since there's only like 4 bridges across it for 3 million drivers.
 
J

jph139

Member
I've literally never heard a person say "my city has good drivers" which leads me to believe that, even at their best, people are just universally bad at driving cars.
 
P

Poppy

Member
Earthbound64 said:
Also, who the heck wrote that article?



"residents consider any drive longer than 20 minutes to be a road trip"?
BS. Show some sources on that.
Providence -> Boston is 50 miles/1 hour+, and that's not a "road trip."
Click to expand...

hell i drove from nyc to newington, nh to go to work after sleeping in grand central station lobby and i dont even consider that a road trip

passed through providence on the way iirc
 
S

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
Yeah, this feels like a dumb methodology.

In my opinion: Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix, Dallas, LA and the whole state of CT have the worst drivers I've ever experienced.

I find NYC, DC and San Fran drivers to be A+ drivers who know how to get around ok.

Also, San Antonio is a special category of people driving too slow and following made up rules (like merge 2 miles before a lane ends) that is extremely frustrating.
 
T

The Lamp

Member
riotous said:
Measuring by amount of tickets is a bit... off.. apples to oranges since there are different police forces with different priorities.
Click to expand...

It's completely off. Not the same laws by state, not the same enforcement by state. I wonder how much of a priority it is for Detroit PD to be enforcing traffic citations instead of other things.

Houston and Dallas drivers are downright fucking stupid AND malicious. Speeding around at 90 with no turn signals, zipping in and out of lanes, or driving 40 on the freeway in the left lane.
 
P

Poppy

Member
StoOgE said:
Also, San Antonio is a special category of people driving too slow and following made up rules (like merge 2 miles before a lane ends) that is extremely frustrating.
Click to expand...

sounds similar to oregon, except that also the merging process must take place over the course of at least a mile
 
V

Violence Jack

Member
Having now lived in both areas, there's no fucking way Denver has worse drivers than Atlanta. We have our fair share of dumbasses who think they can drive 55+ in the snow, but it's got nothing on Atlanta's 285 death loop.
 
K

kswiston

Member
I was driving to the Detroit Zoo about a month ago. On the way there, I saw a guy in a pickup truck driving down the I-75 with wooden pallets stacked at least 10 feet high off of the bed of his truck. It was windy and they were waving all over the place.

He wasn't driving recklessly, but I made sure to be well past that potential disaster as soon as I could be. As someone said, there's never any police vehicles patrolling the I75 in Detroit, so the only way you would get stopped for something like that is if you caused an accident.
 
B

bionic77

Member
StoOgE said:
Yeah, this feels like a dumb methodology.

In my opinion: Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix, Dallas, LA and the whole state of CT have the worst drivers I've ever experienced.

I find NYC, DC and San Fran drivers to be A+ drivers who know how to get around ok.

Also, San Antonio is a special category of people driving too slow and following made up rules (like merge 2 miles before a lane ends) that is extremely frustrating.
Click to expand...
DC drivers are not great. I lived there for 5 years and while I thought the drivers were nice I would not say they were good. San Fran I have only been to 3 times and I only remember the shitty drivers plus it was not enough time to form a real opinion so I will take your word for it.

New York is the only city I have been in where I thought the majority of drivers were good. They are also assholes but they all seem to know how to drive, merge, park, etc.
 
P

Pupperbabysassy

Member
WedgeX said:
Detroit wins??

Shiiiiiit

We are basically born learning to drive in metro Detroit so intuitively this makes sense.

Surprised DC isn't among the worst. A mishmash of driving styles from every US state plus international drivers.
Click to expand...

We're good drivers due to the crappy roads and bad weather.
 
F

Figgles

Member
Pbae said:
Why the fuck is Philadelphia on the Best list?
Click to expand...

The cops don't bother writing speeding tickets. You have to be driving 100 plus to get pulled over on 95.

Baltimore not being on the worst list invalidates it. 10 mph under the speed limit across all lanes, an they will cut across 3 lanes of traffic with no signal to get to their exit. It's no wonder that 695 is backed up at all hours of the day.
 
M

maxcriden

Member
Golgo 13 said:
It's funny too because I've lived in San Diego all my life so I don't have much to compare it to, but people here visiting from out of town are always saying "I can't believe how bad the drivers are here" and I never really took it to heart, but it's interesting to see science behind it (meaning, holy shit it's true).
Click to expand...

Dang, that is crazy. We are hoping to move to SD so we will definitely bear this in mind. Thanks for the info. Do you like it there otherwise?
 
P

Pyrokai

Member
I live in Columbus and yes the drivers here are shit. They drive everywhere as if they're driving a personal tank and have the right of way no matter what. All other cars are merely bowling pins and they're going for a strike.
 
SDCowboy

SDCowboy

Member
I'm not shocked at all to see San Diego at #5. I regularly see absolutely terrifying driving pretty much ever day. Driving that almost defies belief.
 
MsKrisp

MsKrisp

Member
I've driven through Orlando and Miami, and I have to disagree very much with this list. How does FL not even cracked the worst list at all lol
 
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