Maybe it's something in the water.
An interesting new study from a national insurance quoting group indicates that, while the states most immediately surrounding Georgia have all made the cut for having the worst drivers nationally, Georgia motorists have escaped that distinction.
Not by much, though. Statistics compiled by Car Insurance Comparison (CIC) assign Georgia drivers a "worst driver rank" nationally of number 19. Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and virtually all other Southern states rank far worse than that.
The numbers are replete with anomalies, though. Georgia is ranked comparatively low in reckless driving (ninth), yet only Florida fares worse nationally when it comes to tickets written for traffic violation charges.
Moreover, the numbers strongly indicate that Georgia drivers collectively are a somewhat independent and anti-regulatory bunch. CIC states that only a handful of other states' motorists are more averse than Georgia drivers to obeying traffic laws generally.
The data is based heavily upon information gleaned from three groups, namely, the American Motorists Association, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. CIC researchers gave the most weight to driving fatalities, the number of tickets written and drunk driving convictions.
Georgia ranked 11th in that latter category. Nebraska apparently has the fewest drunk drivers measured on a per capita basis, with Wyoming having the most.
The worst state to drive in? According to CIC compilers, it's not even a contest. Louisiana drivers, they say, are by far the most deficient in the country.
Source: Car Insurance Comparison, "Which states have the worst drivers?" (from company website, undated
