Friday, December 12, 2025

Best and Worst Drivers by State: 2025 Report

Driving is easily one of the most dangerous tasks in our daily lives. And our own good driving is only half of the equation when it comes to staying safe on the road " the driving habits of those around us also play a pivotal role.

Posted by LampLighter at 06:03 PM | 12 COMMENTS | permalink

Comments

More from the article ...

...Some states have better drivers than others. According to LendingTree research, North Dakota has the worst drivers in the U.S., while Michigan has the best. Read on for more on our findings ...

Key findings

North Dakota has the worst drivers in the U.S. In 2025 through September, North Dakota drivers had 64.0 incidents (including accidents, DUIs, speeding and citations) per 1,000 drivers. The next worst drivers are in New Jersey (58.8) and Utah (54.6).

The best drivers in the U.S. are in Michigan. At just 20.9 incidents per 1,000 drivers, Michigan has the lowest rate. Florida (23.1) and Colorado (23.7) follow.

New Jersey has the highest accident rate. In our analyzed period, New Jersey drivers had 31.5 accidents per 1,000 drivers, making it the only state above 30.0. The next highest rates are in Rhode Island (29.0) and California (28.1). Meanwhile, Michigan (10.0) has the lowest rate, below Colorado (11.7) and Florida (11.9).

North Dakota has the highest DUI rate. In 2025, North Dakota drivers recorded 3.7 DUIs per 1,000 drivers, the most of any state. The next highest rates are in California (3.5) and Minnesota (2.8). Conversely, nine states have rates below 1.0, with Florida (0.4) at the bottom. Illinois, Mississippi and West Virginia tie for the next lowest, at 0.6.

North Dakota also has the highest speeding-related incident rate. Through September, North Dakota drivers had 11.9 speeding-related incidents per 1,000 drivers, making it the only state above 10.0. The next highest rates are in Utah (9.4) and Vermont (7.7). Five states have speeding-related incident rates below 1.0, led by New Jersey (0.2), Massachusetts (0.3) and New York (0.4). ...


[the article continues in more detail ...]

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-12 06:05 PM

@#1

I can agree about the finding of New Jersey.

Back in my early days of driving, I used to drive in and around NJ (mostly the NJ-NYC metro area, as my college was located in Hoboken, NJ.)

Aggressive drivers? imo, that would be an understatement when attributed to NJ drivers.


#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-12 06:09 PM

Not surprising about MN. I grew up and learned to drive in CA, but goodness knows that MN drivers just cannot figure out how to zipper merge. Every year there is another news story on how to zipper merge, but many drivers still cannot figure it out. They just don't want to let you enter the traffic flow, so traffic stops.

#3 | Posted by Chantresse at 2025-12-12 08:02 PM

Boston has no idea how to merge either.

California is such a diverse state it's hard to assign blame, but the San Gabriel Valley is a good place to start, if you know what I mean.

#4 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-12-12 08:16 PM

@#4 ... Boston has no idea how to merge either. ...

Driving in Boston is a legend here in New England.

I'll leave it at that.



#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-12 08:18 PM

#5 People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles. - Less Than Zero

#6 | Posted by A_Friend at 2025-12-12 08:26 PM

South Carolina drivers all think they are Dale Earnhardt... worse, so do the truck drivers.

A couple of years ago I drove through 19 states, and they were the worst by far.

#7 | Posted by Corky at 2025-12-12 09:17 PM

The worst drivers I had to put up with were West Coast drivers. D.C. is probably the worst in terms of risk. And forget accidents, you might get shot in traffic here.

But Seattle had a six car accident on I-5 because drivers were looking at the particularly bright and beautiful rainbow.

In San Diego I was one of five cars in an accident on I-5 because spun out on the on ramp. They lost control of the car because of a freak weather event called "rain."

#8 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-12-12 09:26 PM

Actually, that's part of the benefit of being a native Angeleno, we recognize people that have never been here quite easily. Didja know, for example, that the highest percentage of accidents are caused by people that moved here from elsewhere. They ------- think they're in Hollywood, FFS.

#9 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-12-12 09:50 PM

- a freak weather event called "rain."

I caught myself one day complaining in the Silicon Valley about how I missed rainy days. It was weird.

#10 | Posted by Corky at 2025-12-12 10:21 PM

#8 In San Diego I was one of five cars in an accident on I-5 because spun out on the on ramp. They lost control of the car because of a freak weather event called "rain."

I remember the first heavy rain caused so many accidents because of the oil on the highways. And LYD, I DO know what you mean. I used to commute in a car pool, they were the worst in the HOV lanes.

Here in MN I stay off the highways after the first snow. I remember seeing 11 spinouts on a 3 mile stretch of highway on my way home from work one day. From then on I would take the side streets home on snow days. It took me nearly the same amount of time, but I avoided the crazy drivers. Retired now, so don't have to drive during Rush Hour.

#11 | Posted by Chantresse at 2025-12-12 10:37 PM

@#10 ... - a freak weather event called "rain." ...

I remember the effects of a similar freak weather event called "snow."

The results of which found me following a snow plow on the NY Thruway as I drove home.

I still have thanks for that plow driver, who gave me safety in my drive home.



#12 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-12 10:49 PM

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