Michigan Has the Best Drivers in the Nation?
Mates,
Too funny to pass up and better than a 'Talking Cars Tuesday' on a Friday, lets break all the rules. A company took the time to try and objectively measure each state's drivers (n.b. insured drivers only) to decide the rankings of the states as to who is best for driving. They measured things like tickets, arrests, fatalities and such. For whatever reason they did the rankings in reverse order, so for instance Maine was '#1", but that means they had the most per capita problems, thus the 'worst' state. Michigan graded out best at #50, and the rationale for Michigan was as follows:
Drivers earn the gold medal thanks to less citations, speeding, and fatalities than last year. There’s one catch – our study only accounts for insured drivers, and this state has plenty of rule breakers. Although Michigan’s insured drivers are the best in the country, one in five don't have car insurance. Oops!
Our dear friends in ohio ranked #8, meaning they were the 8th worst state to drive in. No surprises there. Other B10 states that weren't great were Nebraska at #3 and Minnesota at #6 (Putin and SRJK need to get on the ball). And for our California Mgobloggers, well, Cal comes in at #4. Not good and yet another reason to leave that state. (ST3, Mgofunkadelic, et al)
Anyway, here's the link to the article: https://quotewizard.com/news/posts/best-and-worst-drivers-by-state-2019
Snowing up here but guessing we've had less than a foot. Drive safely as the 5:00 whistle starts your ride home.
XM
January 25th, 2019 at 2:55 PM ^
I thought Boston did!!! OMG, these people are awful.
January 25th, 2019 at 5:33 PM ^
Yep...lived in Boston for a couple of years and they are the freakin' worst. Take traffic signs and signals as gentle suggestions. One pro baseball player, when asked what his proudest accomplishment as a Red Sox was, replied "Living in Boston for five years and not having my car totalled."
Grew up in SE Michigan, lived (and drove) in LA, Boston and Chicago, and agree that MI has the best drivers of all of those. They know their lanes, use signals and are fast. I can tell the difference when I cross the state line. And am surprised at those dogging on LA drivers...it's been a while since I lived there, but they were pretty damn good and predictable (which is the really what you're looking for in other drivers).
January 25th, 2019 at 6:15 PM ^
Boston for sure is famous for they might obey the stop/yield signs. Never had to slam on brakes as often.
January 25th, 2019 at 2:57 PM ^
I grew up in Michigan, have lived in Ohio, Tennessee and South Carolina. I can attest that Michigan has the best drivers while those in That State are horrible and I’m not surprised SC came in 2nd, every day there are accidents in I-20 or I26 here in Columbia area. My biggest beef here though is how long it takes them to turn or take off from a stoplight.
In Ohio though they simply don’t know how to drive, they are really bad and the cops are out to make money for their muncipities.
January 25th, 2019 at 3:04 PM ^
I call Bullshit!! I was just up north skiing at boyne highlands over MLK weekend and the further north I got the crazier the drivers are!! FACT.....
January 25th, 2019 at 3:16 PM ^
there was a lojack on your car, t-bucknut, and many were assigned to covertly harass you. with complete confidence it obviously worked well.
y'all come back now, ya hear.
January 25th, 2019 at 3:05 PM ^
Of course we are!
Can't afford to be late + can't afford insurance after infractions/ accidents =
must drive aggressively + NO mistakes + NO popo
It's economics.
January 25th, 2019 at 3:12 PM ^
I'm a great driver! want proof? just text me.
January 25th, 2019 at 4:19 PM ^
well done, sir.
January 25th, 2019 at 3:15 PM ^
I'm pretty good.
January 25th, 2019 at 3:18 PM ^
Clearly not enough commenters have experienced the greatness that is driving in Florida--the nexus of bad driving. Take a large first generation American population that didn't grow up driving in the States, especially the farther south you go, and combine it with a large older population many of which shouldn't be driving on any roads period. Add to that the state is a huge tourism destination for not only Americans but for many around the world, and Florida residents that didn't learn to drive in the state in the first place (a lot of transplants).
What you get is . . well Florida.
January 25th, 2019 at 3:49 PM ^
True!
Of course when half your drive time is waiting at red lights it really cuts down on the "moving" violations.
January 25th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
That's a lot of scapegoats you've got there. I notice you didn't include the vast majority of Floridians that drive 50+ over the speed limit, take the lines on the road as mere suggestions, and regularly employ their parking brake as an acceptable method of cornering.
Florida is simply unsafe. Like, Mad Max unsafe.
January 25th, 2019 at 5:51 PM ^
January 25th, 2019 at 3:23 PM ^
And Rutgers is the best team in the conference.
January 25th, 2019 at 3:47 PM ^
If the number of speeding tickets is one of the criteria, no wonder Michigan comes out on top and Ohio so low.
You have to pretty much run up behind a state trooper flashing your lights to get him to shift into the right hand lane and then pass him at 90+ to get a ticket here. In Ohio, they'll pull you over for going a half a mile an hour over the speed limit.
January 25th, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
I noticed that Washington, DC was not on the list. I have lived in NJ/NY and Michigan. My work has taken me to Chicago and LA with regularity. And I have never ever felt more scared for my life than when I drove the DC Beltway. Horrifying combination of high traffic volume as well as fast and extremely reckless drivers. I always felt like I was taking my life in my hands whenever I had to drive down there. People going 15-20 mph over the limit while merging without looking, doing crazy stupid things. So glad I rarely have to drive in that area anymore.
January 25th, 2019 at 4:24 PM ^
South florida drivers are pretty bad as well. They use the right lane as the passing lane.
January 25th, 2019 at 9:14 PM ^
Or the inverse, thinking the other drivers just aren't aware that they shouldn't stay in the left lane if impeding traffic flow...
January 26th, 2019 at 10:22 AM ^
In this case it's driving 75 in the left lane and being passed at 85+ inn the right lane. Anyone who has ever driven down to Florida on 95 knows what i am talking about. The problem is that they are all basically displaced New Yorkers, speaking as a displaced New Yorker myself.
January 25th, 2019 at 3:58 PM ^
Perhaps if our auto insurance rates weren't tops in the country, we'd have more insured drivers...
January 25th, 2019 at 4:21 PM ^
Not sure we have the best drivers but pretty sure we have the worst roads.
January 25th, 2019 at 7:23 PM ^
"Worst roads? Hold my beer!"
- NY
January 25th, 2019 at 4:23 PM ^
Well, from experience I can say that they are definitely better than New York and Boston drivers. One thing I like about driving Michigan is the ability to go 80 mph in bumper to bumper traffic. The main criticisms I would have are a) slowing down to a complete stop when making a right hand turn, b) waiting until the last second to change lanes before making a turn, and c) overaggressive pickup / large SUV drivers that use the size of their vehicles to compensate for their lack of size in other areas (iykwim).
January 25th, 2019 at 4:30 PM ^
I mildly agree that Michigan has good drivers. My wife laughs at how much I complain while driving in other states, but the majority of that is entirely because the speed limits are so stinking low outside of Michigan.
January 25th, 2019 at 4:36 PM ^
Michigan speed limits are high, doubly so when you consider the shitty state of most (all?) freeways. I can't image wanting to go faster than 80 on a Michigan road.
January 25th, 2019 at 4:30 PM ^
i moved to the UP because I hated rush hour traffic in suburbia
January 25th, 2019 at 5:18 PM ^
I too have traveled around the country, much by vehicle, and would agree that MI drivers are pretty solid. Grew up in D but moved to SoCal yrs ago and visit Detroit often. Have fam on East and West parts of town. MI seems to be a "keep up, speed up, or get the F outta the way" state which is how it should be. Find myself regularly doing 90 going across town because everyone else is. This would be unheard of in some states.
Take a little exception to people bagging on SoCal drivers cause I think it is much the same here. Depending on time of day you might be going 35 on the freeway or 85 with at most 10' of space between vehicles at all times. However, when we get a day or two of rain after 6 months of none it is chaos.
January 25th, 2019 at 5:20 PM ^
Can confirm about Ohio drivers, as a 26 year resident. Every year they all (with the exception of Clevelanders) forget how to drive in the snow! It's like Atlanta-in-the-snow every December.
January 25th, 2019 at 5:39 PM ^
Most dangerous place to drive in Michigan is Flint Michigan. For starters if you get in an accident good luck hoping the other person has insurance but more importantly......these people love driving through fresh red lights. They treat the damn yellow as if its green so you have to pause a minute once your light turns green to make sure nobody is going to come flying through. Its like a cultural thing in Flint
January 25th, 2019 at 8:51 PM ^
seconded. i routinely drive down from marquette and flint is the most lawless stretch of highway, with drivers ignoring all rules of highway driving
January 25th, 2019 at 5:49 PM ^
I have been a better driver in Illinois than I ever was in Michigan. As a cop’s kid, I must have been awfully embarrassing to him. Traffic cops would just leave my tickets in a pile on his desk. I have been able to avoid embarrassing Mrs. Judge Lampjaw here, at least in the driving category.
January 25th, 2019 at 6:10 PM ^
Best Fast Drivers on the worst roads
No brainer. Plus we have figured out roundabouts!
A friend near Dublin Ohio says they have a roundabout there with a very high number of accidents because they can't figure out how it works.
January 25th, 2019 at 6:20 PM ^
To be fair, the roundabout in Ann Arbor over by Costco seems to be fairly perpelxing to most of the people who drive through it.
January 25th, 2019 at 6:42 PM ^
The perplexed ones probably have some ties to central Ohio ; )
Yeah people bitch and moan, but I haven't seen an accident at the State Street roundabout and I used to live at that Costco.
Heck they put THREE roundabouts by Skyline high school !! Imagine a new driver hitting those? Must be smart kids. The brand new ones in Dexter and on North Territorial and US -23 work really well.
January 25th, 2019 at 7:23 PM ^
Michigan certainly doesn't have the worst drivers, but they're certainly not the best. Although, every new place I go, the more I hate the local drivers.
January 25th, 2019 at 9:04 PM ^
I can confirm that California has absolutely terrible drivers.
According to my uncle, that’s due to California’s large population of Armenians.
speaking of cars, we sold our 20 year old Camry for $1800 this week. As long as you can avoid serious accidents, cars last pretty well out here.
January 25th, 2019 at 9:36 PM ^
Then why in the fuck haven't my insurance rates gone down?
January 25th, 2019 at 9:52 PM ^
One of the main reasons California ranks low is because all of the idiot drivers that move here and bring their shitty driving with them!
January 26th, 2019 at 2:21 AM ^
I haven't lived in Michigan for 12 years but I remember it being pretty good compared to California where I lived before. I consider the DMV to be the worst place in the US for driving with a strong bias against people from Maryland. Having said all that, I offer a major helping of cliche when I say that since moving to Germany, everywhere I go in the US, roads feel like complete chaos to me now.
January 28th, 2019 at 11:47 AM ^
This is hysterical. Minnesota is by far the best state to drive in that I've lived in and that includes Michigan. In fact, Michigan might be one of the 2 worst.
October 7th, 2019 at 3:38 PM ^
See that there are some experienced drivers here so guys, can anyone help me to choose a decent insurance company? I was able to find some info on https://www.general.com/articles/naic-number-car-insurance-company-%E2%80%93-how-find-it but still, it will be great to get some info from experienced people here.
November 5th, 2019 at 11:39 AM ^
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