Worst Drivers

[digitS']

Now, before you get all defensive, click most traffic citations, too.

Ten States with Worst Drivers (USA Today)

I think Heather in Montana has gotta lot of 'splainin' to do!! I'll start off - they probably should divide those stats by number of miles driven . . . Montanans can hardly take a step out of the yard without putting miles under their wheels.

Steve
who doesn't spend much time on asphalt during the winter . .

. fortunately.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Like they said Steve, it depends on the criteria used. A lot of the stuff for this one came from “tickets issued”. You’d think states with cities that have those cameras at stop signs issuing tickets would rank pretty high. Some cities or usually small towns get a whole lot of their city revenue from traffic tickets. When I lived in south Louisiana, Golden Meadow was famous for giving tickets for 1 or 2 mph over the limit. They also had a speed limit of 30 but the caution sign for a curve showed 35. No, Golden Meadow never got me but I was really careful. Enough of those might tilt the statistics some.

Those can be fun discussions but I take those comparisons with a few grains of salt and often a Tylenol or two. Purely a fun topic not to be taken too seriously.

 

[digitS']

I know it, RidgeRunner.

Tickets - speeding past the WA State Patrol office in Ellensburg . And, driving over the "emergency speed limit" imposed after the Mt. St. Helen's eruption after I was finally confident enuf to leave home on a desperate attempt to find dust masks and food!

When I was a young driver, I remember being told that Californians average 1 accident in something like 4.1 years . . ! Of course, there was a great big push for freeway construction in California at that time. I probably have only one accident on an insurance record. I pulled too far out into the street coming out of a driveway. Checked 2 mirrors (shoulda checked the 3rd) then backed into the guy sitting behind me in the driveway .

That accident hardly compares to the "fender bender" where I slid around a corner on a downhill curve in the snow. The fender was crushed against the wheel while leaving no more than red paint on the bumper of the 1958 Chevy sitting at the curb . Running off the road and rolling a car while trying to get off the mountain in a terrible snowstorm probably didn't count either since the car only had liability . Totaled the Xmas tree and nearly killed myself hanging onto the steering wheel while laying on the hood but, you know . . .

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

I agree with ridgerunner about small cities generating revenue by issuing tickets. Alameda has one of the hightes rates in the bay area. You don't dare drive too fast here.

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

Whoa Steve! That's probably my worst driving fear, sliding off the edge of an icy mountain road. Fortunately there's usually enough trees to stop you before you plunge into a frozen lake. shudder

How'd you get out of that scrape?

People seem to be casually running red lights now as if it's no big deal. I always look both ways when going into an intersection on a green light, even if I'm not the lead car.

 

[digitS']

This was near Chilco Lake, Thistle'!

The car rolled, I think, 3 times but it may have been twice. I just had the nice lady at the nearest house call a tow truck and she took us down to the highway. Never saw the car again.

The tree was in the back seat. Just a little tree for the apartment where we were living. We had just been stuck in the snow on the road and putting in a little too much extra effort on the downhill side of that curve.

Interesting that after a few years, this became the neighborhood for the Aryan Nation. For sure, I never went back then, altho' I lived just a few miles away by that time. I have thought about that nice lady, home by herself way out in the country during a snowstorm, and how she helped us get home. Maybe I should have gone back to find out if she needed help moving away.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Chilco has a lake?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah, Thistle, I assume other drivers are going ot be idiots, especially around traffic lights and 4-way stops. That way I am often pleasantly surprised but never disappointed.

 

[Nyboy]

I would have thought Florida would be number one, with all the senior citizens living there.

 

[digitS']

Hey! RidgeRunner has an avatar!

And, it's Real! From the Movie!

Chilco does indeed have a lake. Up there on the Rimrock . . . that waterfall you see there at Chilco, that is where the water comes from. (Now, you better not tell me you haven't seen the waterfall . . . .)

Steve
senior citizen . . . by the way, all those accidents & tickets were from when i was younger than i am now . . .

 

[Smart Red]

I don't think they count accidents in golf carts along with car accidents or Florida just might be higher.