Report says R.I.’s drivers are the best

RHODE ISLAND has the best drivers in the nation, while Utah ranks first for having the worst, according to a study by QuoteWizard. / COURTESY QUOTEWIZARD
RHODE ISLAND has the best drivers in the nation, while Utah ranks first for having the worst, according to a study by QuoteWizard. / COURTESY QUOTEWIZARD

PROVIDENCE – The smallest state in the union has the best drivers in the United States.
That’s according to QuoteWizard, an online insurance comparison marketplace, which on Thursday released its study ranking the best and worst driving states in the nation in time for the holiday travel season.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that a state with a reputation for potholes, nor’easters and fiery Italian temperaments could score so highly, but it’s true. Extremely low fatalities per licensed drivers combined with good scores across the board mean that Rhode Islanders have plenty to be proud of. Of course, their excellent driving records might be due to the fact that a 20 minute drive is considered a road trip. By the time the damage is done, they’re probably past the state line and it’s Connecticut’s problem,” the website said.
On the other end of the spectrum, Utah has the worst drivers, ranking high for accidents, speeding, minor infractions and driving under the influence.
Massachusetts ranked 19th best on the list, while New Hampshire was in the middle of the pack, at 26th worst. Maine was fourth worst, Vermont was 16th worst, and Connecticut, 21st worst.
QuoteWizard said it looked at incident data from the users of its website (with more than 2 million data points) and linearly extrapolated it to Federal Highway Administration fatality data. It said it also weighted various incident counts for each state with its occurrence percentage. The final rankings are a sum of weighted means calculated from total accidents, speeding tickets, DUI, citations and fatalities, it said.

It also said that East Coast drivers are better than West Coast drivers, citing a 13 percent margin of victory.
“Not too surprising, considering that two of the worst states – Utah and California – are on the West Coast, while the East Coast has Rhode Island, the best state overall,” the website stated.

No posts to display