Distractions, Drunk Driving, Young Drivers, Tourists, Congestion Lead To FL High Ranking

TAMPA, FL — Bad drivers exist everywhere, but in some cities, they’re decidedly worse because of an aggressive driving culture, poor road design, increased congestion and long commutes that shorten tempers and cause drivers to make poor decisions.

In recognition of Distracted Driving Month in April, the real estate data firm, Clever Real Estate, took a look at the cities with the cities with the best and worst drivers in America, and discovered that three Florida cities rank in the top five in the country for the worst drivers, making Florida the overall worst state for drivers.

According to Clever Real Estate's analysis, Jacksonville has the worst drivers in the country, while Orlando has the third worst and Tampa the fourth worst.

Ranking No. 2 is Louisville, Kentucky, and No. 5 is Nashville, Tennessee.

To determine what cities attract the worst drivers, Clever Real Estate used multiple metrics weighted in the following manner:

• 3x: Average annual traffic fatalities per 100,000 residents from 2014-2020
• 3x: Average annual alcohol-related traffic fatalities per 100,000 residents from 2014-2020
• 2x: Days of precipitation per year
• 1x: Average annual vehicle insurance premiums in the state
• 1x: Percentage of uninsured drivers in the state
• 1x: Allstate’s best drivers rank
• 1x: Google Trends for “DUI”
• 1x: Auto repair shops per 100,000 residents

The analysis discovered that Jacksonville is home to America’s worst drivers, while New York City has the best.

One of the reasons Jacksonville ranks so high is its high number of alcohol-related driving deaths. It has 2.9 DUI deaths per 100,000 residents — 66 percent more than the average city in the study, which have 1.7 per 100,000 residents.

That makes Jacksonville No. 7 in the country for alcohol-related deaths.

New York City has the fewest drunk driving deaths (0.6 per 100,000 residents) and the second-fewest driving fatalities per year (3.3 per 100,000 residents).

Another reasons for Jacksonville's high score is that four major highways and two interstates converge in Jacksonville, making it a popular thoroughfare for drivers traveling the Sunshine State. With so many intertwined roads and interchanges, Jacksonville drivers who fail to follow basic vehicle safety, such as using their turn signals, will likely find themselves in an accident.

Interstate 95, which runs through the metro area, is considered one of the deadliest interstates in the country, and the city records 10.9 annual traffic-related fatalities per 100,000 residents — 65 percent more than the studied city average of 6.6. That’s the third-highest number on Clever Real Estate's list, behind Memphis, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama.

Drivers in Detroit pay the highest insurance premiums, an average of $4,726 per year, and one in four Detroit drivers (26 percent) are uninsured, the highest rate among all 50 cities in the study.

However, the high cost of auto insurance in Florida means that a lot of Floridians are driving around with no insurance, adding to its high ranking for the worst drivers in the country.

In Jacksonville, the average auto insurance premiums are $2,745. The average premium in Orlando is $2,698. And the average premium in Tampa is $3,459. According to the study, 20.40 percent of drivers in these three Florida cities are uninsured. That's 54 percent higher than the national average of 13 percent.

Orlando gets its top five ranking for its high number of aggressive drivers.

While most drivers experience 19 hard-braking events per 1,000, Orlando drivers have 23 hard-braking events.

One reason may be the influx of summer tourists who are unfamiliar with the roads. In the touristy areas, visitors are constantly staring or snapping photos instead of watching the road, causing 21 percent more hard-braking events than the national average, according to Allstate’s best drivers report.

Orlando also has 130 days of precipitation each year, the 10th-most nationally.

Orlando drivers file an insurance claim about every nine years. The national average is every 11 years.

Additionally, Orlando has 9.1 driving fatalities per 100,000 residents each year, significantly higher than the average city, which has 6.6 fatalities per 100,000.

When it comes to traffic fatalities, Tampa is No. 2 in Florida and No. 5 in the nation.

Each year, Tampa has 10 fatal traffic accidents per 100,000 residents, which is 51 percent more driving deaths than the average city in the study.

Clever Real Estate said this may be due to the number of high-risk drivers in Tampa including young people who refuse to put down their cellphone and snowbirds who jam the highways and don't have a clue where they're going.

Leo Waldenback, co-founder of Zutobi, an online driver's education resource, said distracted driving is a major reason road accidents have increased in recent years.

“Traffic deaths have surged in many areas," Waldenback said. "The major causes of road accidents are due to driver errors. For example, drunk driving fatalities have not been this high in over a decade."

Since 2015, the total number of distracted driving crashes resulting in an injury have bounced between 265,000 to 295,000 crashes each year. In 2020, this number dropped significantly in Florida, down to 215,000, which may be attributed to the state passing its ban on using a cellphone while driving.

Cell phones are attributed to about 13 percent of fatal distracted driving accidents and about 8 percent of injury crashes.

In many cases, Waldenback said, some level of distraction is unavoidable for drivers, whether they have to glance down at the GPS to see where the next turn is or say something important to a passenger.

However, he said many distractions can be reduced or completely avoided with the following steps:

• If you’re driving to an unfamiliar place, input the destination in your navigation device before you pull out of the driveway. Glance over the route, so you have some idea of where you’re going. Place your GPS or phone in a dashboard mount and, if available, turn on the voice guide, so you can listen instead of looking down at the GPS.
• Don't eat or put on makeup while driving.
• If you want to listen to music, audiobooks or the radio, keep the volume moderately low and be vigilant about keeping the majority of your attention on the road.
• Though conversations can be distracting, you don’t have to keep the car silent. Let others do most of the talking and don’t try to talk about topics that require a lot of focus, like planning out a big event or making an important decision.