American Truckers Reveal Which States Have The Worst Drivers

#1 Connecticut

In my experience (I have been off the road for about ten years or so), Connecticut. Evert state/region has it's own idiosyncrasies when it comes to bad driving habits, but they are predictable because they are the same across the board 99% of the time. For example, a NJ or LA car is not going to stop in the middle of the interstate to let a person merge onto it. An Alabama driver isn't going to drive across three lanes of traffic without turn signals for no apparent reason.

For some reason, Connecticut drivers have no pattern of predictability and will drive terribly in completely different ways from one vehicle to another. We all have bad driving habits, no matter what region we call home. Driving a Semi safely involves a lot of guessing/anticipating what people around you are doing, and keeping a few steps ahead of them so you have time to react. When the odds go down for what any car will do at any given time, it is very frustrating.

#2 New York City/CT-MA Area

I'm a trucker with 15 years experience. Over a million miles driving a truck. Without a doubt, I'll tell you which state has the worst drivers. New York.

God damn 4 wheelers will not bat an eye. They literally will hit you as they cut you off.... and just keep going. Roads there suck as well except upstate. If I have to go in or through NY I get major heartburn lol.

I'm in New York on Rt.1 near the CT border driving along minding my own business. I'm in the left lane of a 4 lane road when this effing bitch cuts me off trying to turn into a Burger King. I slammed on my breaks and Jack knife, almost causing a major accident. To this day I still do not know how I didn't hit anything. Great part of the story is there was a cop behind me who saw the whole thing. He checked on me first to make sure I was ok and then proceeded to go after the 4 wheeler. I stayed there for what seemed like forever watching the whole thing unfold. The result? She got arrested for driving with a suspended license. Karma bitch!

#3 Arizona

I've been all over, and I can confirm NY has the worst drivers. I would say the best I've seen are in Arizona. I'm from the East Coast. As far I'm concerned, Arizona is a waste land. Wide open streets. There's 3 lanes on both sides, with like 10 cars total over the course of a mile. Without thinking, I cheat a little. Boom. Ticket. In the middle of fucking nowhere, with no other car within 15 yards of me, I turn into the wrong lane of an empty street and get a god damn ticket.

After that, I started paying attention. Nobody breaks the rules. Not even a little. Every blinker works perfectly and is used perfectly. Everyone turns into the correct lanes, except a couple of folks that I saw getting tickets.

The cops have nothing else to do there. It's wide open desert and the 200 people that live there all have guns. Their kids have guns. If you trespass, you get shot, so there's no crime. Traffic is perfect because the cops have nothing else to do.

#4 Detroit, Michigan

One memory from driving in Detroit years ago: middle of an ice storm and a minivan was in the right lane on 75, apparently missed their exit and then without warning slammed on their brakes at speed (maybe 45mph because of the weather). I immediately started pumping my brakes and checking lanes to see which way I was going to dodge to avoid murdering this moron AND her 3 kids in the back, but I had cars on both sides so I was S.O.L... came within 10 ft of throwing an entire family tree into the wood chipper that day. Anyway, this insane person slides to a complete stop, puts it in reverse, backs up far enough that they can get onto the exit ramp and just goes on like nothing happened. Even gave me a dirty look for being in her way while she was trying to back up.

#5 Los Angeles & Southern California

I work out of San Diego and only drive in CA, NV, and AZ and in these areas, San Diego and LA are the worst. The people drive OK, it's really just the traffic that's the problem, but it's enough to be the problem. As soon as I'm past Thousand Oaks (the 101) or San Fernando (the 5), I can take a huge sigh of relief.

People here do not know how to deal with rain.

What's a lot more noticeable to me is that drivers of certain cars tend to be a lot worse or better than others. BMWs are far and away the worst, with no close second. American sports cars (Corvettes, Mustangs, etc) tend to be the best.

#6 Rhode Island

Whenever worst driver topic comes up no one mentions Rhode Island. Granted it's a small state so many overlook it but its density of horrible drivers per square mile has to be the highest in the country.

It's like they do not teach the concept of blind spots, like it's not even in the state driving manual. Just lost count of the number of times I have seen near misses and brushes on RI Interstate because one driver did not check their blind spot. Plus everyone is driving on their cell phones and texting and it appears to be just fine with police.

#7 Oregon

The good drivers in Oregon are a lot like everywhere else. On the freeway, they're usually going 10-15mph over the limit and exercising decent lane discipline. The difference with Oregon is how our bad drivers behave. Our bad drivers aren't aggressive and reckless, they're...retarded.

Oregon's bad drivers literally do not know how to drive. To them, the laws are a security blanket. They don't know that following the law and being a capable driver aren't the same thing. It's totally weird. There are people (and I'm not lying) who will signal, then change lanes right into another car without looking and think it's not their fault because:

1. They signaled.

2. The other driver was speeding.

Oregon continued...

#8 Oregon

If they don't know what turn they want to take, they will just fucking stop in the middle of the road. They slam on their brakes to give up their right-of-way to a car that would easily find a slot 5 seconds later if they didn't. They'll sit at 4-way stops arguing politely about who's turn it is to go. They'll decline to turn right on red because they just don't feel like dealing with the stress, man.

Slowness is just them compensating for overall inability and unawareness. I don't know what causes it. Maybe it's the general laid-back polite attitude (which is nice, I admit). Maybe it's the fact that for the longest time, you didn't have to actually take any formal training to get a license as long as you passed the easy written test and 20-minute driving test.

In any case, it's maddening sometimes. I mean, shit. You don't have to come to a complete stop in the left-most portion of the lane to turn right onto a side street in your Prius. You aren't driving a fucking delivery truck.

#9 Florida

To be fair, Florida is the worst state I've seen in terms of slow people in fast lanes and general oblivious driving. I can't tell you how many times cars doing 20 under wind up in the left lane on the interstates or drive alongside a similarly slow car for extended periods of time. This leads to drivers with no gaps for the cars in behind, which puts up a wall that causes traffic jams and increases the chance of an accident. If you are truly a "safe driver", follow the law against impeding the flow of traffic: If you are slower than the flow of traffic, move to the RIGHT LANE. If you are driving on the highway, LEAVE ROOM for others to merge in front of you as necessary. And before someone tries to counter by saying the only point of this is to allow speeders to go faster and for "opportunistic" drivers to get ahead, that's not the point.

Slower traffic in the right lane allows for more consistent traffic flow, which can help prevent condensed jams and other slowdowns for the traffic behind you, and leaving space in front of you can ease tensions and avoid sudden slowdowns during merge events, such as for construction or to reach an exit. This reduces traffic jams which keeps the roads more clear during heavy traffic. This source and this article are great if you want to learn more about how "normal" aggressive or passive-aggressive driving habits can create mayhem for commuters and highway drivers -- even if they don't cause accidents as a result.

#10 Massachusettes Turnpike

Massachusetts has a great feature I call Massachusetts Right of Way, where a car pulls out far enough that you can't pass, but they insist on waiting for you to wave them into traffic. Brilliantly passive aggressive! Also, The Mass Pike between Sturbridge and Auburn is a 10 mile stretch of road that is the only East-West link between halves of New England and on a mid summer Friday or Monday it is an angry parking lot where you are sworn at without pronouncing the letter R.

#11 Connecticut & I-95

There is a lot of New York here, and well deserved, but I need to add that the worst cars in NYC have out of state plates. NYers who do it every day will move like teeth in a gear, you just have to go for it. But PA plates? NJ, CT plates? Chout! They mistake assertive and fearless to just aggressive.

I live in CT, have driven 1,000,000 miles throughout the northeast. When I visit other places and rent a car, I feel like I'm in a StarTrek episode where everything is slow but me. It is hard to drive the speed limit like mind numbing.

People are right, though.. CT driving can suck...I 95 between NY state line and New haven is insane, the Merritt parkway is like an adult go-kart track where everyone is on coke and just found out they lost a lawsuit and I-84 between Danbury to Hartford would make Jesus fire a round or two into a Saturn.

Speaking of which, the worst drivers drive Volvos and Saturns, and because I'm a CT driver that means they are slow and in the way, usually staring in the rear view mirror to make eye contact with those they are infuriating.

#12 Kentucky

When I first moved down here, my car was hit twice in a parking garage, and I had two matching yellow paint marks down either side of my car like it was freaking intentional or something. People will just routinely slam on their breaks for no reason, no one signals for anything, and if you're only going 20 over the speed limit, you need to get the hell out of the way or get run over. At least twice a week, I'll be sitting at a stop light where straight and right have a single lane, waiting to go straight, and someone will wedge between my car and the sidewalk to turn right. People apparently also just stop in the middle of the street to sell drugs, so that's special.

On I-65 in Southern Kentucky, there is ALWAYS construction from the TN border to Louisville. Not just any construction, it's where they split lanes up into threes. A total mess that has not stopped in years. It's one of those 'shovel ready' projects that just keeps road crews busy by moving cones and barrels.

#13 Nashville & Middle Tennessee

The entire state is a driver's nightmare from Bristol to Memphis and all stops in between! Potholes, cars just sitting on the side of the interstate, construction, traffic jams, blocked exits and poorly designed highways are just the tip of the iceberg. Near Knoxville, there is never ending road work and during peak hours the traffic on I-40 and through to I-75 it is like a parking lot. But the worst is Nashville. Man, that entire region is screwed up. Three major interstates collide in downtown Nashville as well as 2 or 3 bypass roads. Getting from I-24 to I-65 is a nightmare.

They move slow down there except for when they are on the highways. Then it's like the Autobahn. They drive like maniacs until a raindrop or snowflake falls from the sky then it's snail traffic and people park their cars and leave them wherever they happen to be. Totally insane shit. It's like they learned to drive from a different handbook than the rest of America, and it's most of the state and to be honest, it flows like that through Georgia and Alabama as well. Don't even get me started on Atlanta!