Like the United States as a whole, Florida is one of those “melting pot” states. We get people moving here from all across the country in hopes of enjoying the Florida sunshine and slower life style. It is true that we have lots of sunshine…not so much with the whole slower life style thing.
As a result, the driving in the traffic traveling along our thoroughfares can be a very interesting adventure. Many studies of national traffic statistics have been done and each has been interpreted in their own, sometimes unique, ways. I recently read about three very interesting, if dubious, studies.
The Daily Beast has reported that a study found the deadliest, least skilled drivers on the road are apparently young (18 to 20 year old) Republicans. The Beast reports that:
“What was more surprising: how the breakdown between states with more dangerous drivers and safer drivers fell almost completely along the lines of the 2008 McCain-Obama election, with the Republicans again coming up on the short end. Nine of the 10 worst-performing states went for McCain, while nine of the 10 best performers voted for Obama. (Delaware and Mississippi were the respective outliers.)”
The Beast concluded that the most dangerous state for fatal crashes and bad drivers was North Dakota with 116 fatal crashes where the most dangerous age group is 18 year olds.
GMAC recently published a study attempting to set forth a list by state of the most dangerous to least dangerous drivers. The good news for Floridians? We are not number one. The bad news? Florida ranks at 11 for the worst drivers in the nation.
Who were the 10 worst states for bad drivers:
1. (WORST) New York
2. New Jersey
3. Dist. of Columbia
4. California
5. Rhode Island
6. Louisiana
7. West Virginia
7. Hawaii
9. New Hampshire
10. Kentucky
The additional bad news for Florida is that we have a great many residents and drivers on our roads from the following top ten states: New York, New Jersey, California, and New Hampshire.
The MailOnline, a UK newspaper reported results of a research study that evaluated 6.5 million crashes in the United States and found a higher than expected number of crashes involving female drivers than male drivers. But, the researchers conducting the study reported that the differences may, at least in part, be attributable to height differences between female and male drivers.
So, if you get into a car in Florida, ask the driver their height, the state they came from, what political party to which they belong and how old they are. Consider whether to continue, at least based on these studies, if they are a Five foot, female, under 21 years old, Republican from New York.
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