I guess my first question after reading this headline would be "Seriously?" I've been an Illinois driver for over 40 years at this point in my life, and I'm having trouble buying this one.

Admit it, the reason you probably clicked on this story is because you don't believe it, either. Some of the absolute worst driving I've ever seen has happened right here in Illinois, and a big chunk of it happened within 50 miles of Rockford. To be brutally honest, most of it happened right here in the Rockford area.

To quote Bob Dole (as played by Norm MacDonald on Saturday Night Live), I know it, you know it, and the American people know it.

I didn't actually fully realize how bad Illinois drivers can be until a recent cross-country road trip with my son. We drove from Rockford out to Fountain Hills, Arizona and back again in late January of this year, and the differences in driving styles and skills as we crossed through Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona were really pronounced.

We found folks across the country were (for the most part) attentive, courteous, and seemed to know the rules of the road. When we came up on traffic in the left lane that was traveling more slowly than we were, they moved over to the right and let us through. In Illinois...good luck with that. We found that residents of other states also had a clear idea of what a turn signal is for, and they used them. Again, somewhat of a weird concept here in Illinois.

I could go on, as complaining about Illinois drivers in somewhat therapeutic, but I won't. You live here. You know the score.

Chicago law firm Friend, Levinson & Turner (FltLaw.com) recently released the results of a study they undertook to rank the best and worst drivers in America. To make their determinations, they looked at DUI arrests, accident fatalities, uninsured drivers, and Google searches centered around getting out of a ticket and car accident lawyers. They found the top 5 states with the worst drivers are New Mexico, Arkansas, Alabama, Wyoming, and Montana.

The best drivers, according to FltLaw.com study, can be found in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, then a 3-way tie for 4th place between Illinois, Connecticut, and Virginia, with North Carolina taking the 5th spot.

You can read the entire study by clicking here.

 

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