On a long list of typical teenage behavior that I eschewed, is the fact that I had zero interest in getting my driver’s license (or learner’s permit, for that matter). I ended up not learning until I was 25, when I had a quarter-life crisis and convinced myself there was something metaphorically positive about driving myself to therapy sessions. I actually felt pretty comfortable once I got behind the wheel, but of course the thing with driving is that you constantly have to worry about everyone else on the road with you. And apparently, we should be the most worried when driving in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Insurance company LendingTree has released a study comparing driving habits across America, and Massachusetts came out on top in two categories: worst drivers and highest accident rate. Congratulations! But to be fair to the sixth state in the Union, nearby Rhode Island was a close second in both those categories, with California not far behind. Some more vehicular findings:
Massachusetts has the worst drivers in the United States, according to a recent study from the finance site Lending Tree.
Per the study — which collected data from all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., from Nov. 5, 2023 to Nov. 4, 2024 — Massachusetts ranked first for the highest number of reported incidents, including speeding, DUIs and citations, with 61.1 incidents per 1,000 drivers.
Within those incident types, the state also had the highest accident rate, with 44.4 accidents per 1,000 drivers — marking the only state to rate above 40.
Massachusetts also holds the 11th-highest DUI rate in the country, the study said.
According to WalletHub, Massachusetts has some of the highest car insurance rates in the country due to these factors.
As to why the Bay State is seeing these high numbers, CBS affiliate WBZ attained data that shows an increase in traffic in the state between 2022 and 2023, with 5% more cars on the road in Boston, over 10% more in Newton and about 15% more in Framingham — to name just a few cities.
CBS News, meanwhile, attributed this growth to the fact that many employees returned to offices after the COVID-19 pandemic, but less of those same workers are using public transportation, instead opting for cars.
This, combined with the state’s hazardous winter weather conditions, creates an environment primed for traffic incidents, the outlet reported.
On a positive note, Massachusetts drivers have the fifth lowest speeding-related incident rate in the country, at just 1.3 speeding incidents per 1,000 drivers, per the Lending Tree findings.
Additional findings showed that D.C. ranks highest for DUIs at 3.6 per 1,000 drivers, while California comes in at a close second with 3.5.
North Dakota, meanwhile, ranked first for highest incidents of speeding, with 8 incidents per 1,000 drivers.
Elsewhere, Arkansas ranked first for best drivers overall, with the lowest number of reported incidents at 14.7 per 1,000 drivers, as well as the lowest accident rate at 8.2 per 1,000.
Well, I’m sure Arkansas is very proud to have won best drivers status. Good for them. I’m a little surprised New York didn’t show up higher on any of these lists, considering NYC has been declared as the worst US city for traffic, but the Empire State placed middle of the road in all categories. As for Massachusetts, it’s been years since I’ve been in the state myself, but I did spend a sizable portion of my youth in a car driven by my greater Boston-area bred grandmother, and… yeah, I totally buy them as worst drivers. I love my grandmother!! But being a passenger in her car was taking your life in your hands, for a variety of quirky yet terrifying reasons. Like the time we were listening to dulcet classical music, returning home after a summer day spent at the pool. We pulled into her parking space, and as she turned off the radio my grandmother said, “I was almost asleep!” Or the time we were on the highway and my grandmother glanced over to me, with a sly, conspiratorial look in her eye, and said, “When I see three trees on the right side of the road, and one tree on the left, I mentally imagine taking one tree away from the three and moving it over to the left, so both sides are balanced.” Or the fact that at a certain point she just decided that every single intersection had a stop sign.
Lastly, what’s with all the speeding in North Dakota? Are people trying to zoom towards or away from something? Whatever the answer is, I feel like FX could get another season of Fargo out of it.
Photos credit: David Tonnessen/PacificCoastNews.com/Avalon, Backgrid
They’re called Massholes for a reason! Absolute homicidal maniacs, as opposed to RI drivers, who are simply idiots.
Connecticut here! You are spot on.
Having grown up in New England, I concur!
I don’t miss them; I now have to deal with FIBs in the upper midwest.
Everyone who has ever spent time in New England knows this!
Came here to share that Masshole epithet – so well-deserved. I live in MA (not from here) and too many of the drivers are truly awful. They apparently learn enough to pass a driving test but promptly forget everything and make up their own road rules – OK, so we’re driving improv? On top of that, we have the shittiest infrastructure and worst roads anywhere. It’s like a war zone. Oh – and hardly ever any actual name-of-road signs. Just figure that out on your own, dear driver. Stop and ask at a local place and nobody knows! You’ve entered the twilight zone.
I am a Mainer or should I say Maniac. Mass drivers are the worst. They also invade Maine every year and think they still own it. When Labor Day rolls around it is a treat to say good bye to them. I have a friend who will go to the Naples Causeway and do a u-turn in the middle of the that day. Thank goodness they got rid of the draw bridge on 302.
I remember I heard the term “Massholes” when I moved to VT from Long Island in 2003. On LI, the Long Island Expressway was panic attack-inducing, so I thought – how bad could they be? I was not super close to the MA border, so I only experienced MA drivers if I drove thru the state, went to Boston, etc. I now live in NH about 4 miles from the MA border – they drive like animals. They tailgate, honk at you if you don’t go fast enough, flash their brights at you, pass aggressively, cut in front of you with *barely* enough space. Lord help you if you end up with a bunch of them trying to find a parking spot. It’s like a cage match. Trying to go to the mall or supermarket is a nightmare sometimes.
Any state with lots of empty land, miles and miles of flat, straight roads is just so tempting for speeders.
Having driven in NYC, DC, Los Angeles and Miami, I find it hard to believe that Mass is worst. Yikes. 😬
I’ve driven in all of those, and more, and Mass is by far the worst. Partly because road conditions are terrible-3 lanes at a stoplight that becomes only one within a block, sharp curves on the interstate with big signs saying reduce speed to 40 (everyone drives 75), weird berms with no place to turn and everyone is driving as fast as possible,
…which is absolutely NOT massachusetts lol. My husband left Iowa because he lost THREE friends between 18-22 to car accidents and he was convinced he’d be next.
No surprise here, I spent a summer in Cape Cod. They think the traffic lights are there for purely decorative purposes. Left turns from the right lane and right turns from the left lane are de rigueur. People drive like a bat out of hell and nobody observes the speed limits. Once you’re out on the highway, it’s like everybody for himself and the devil take the hindmost.
I’d rather drive through Manhattan at the height of the rush hour. NYC drivers know how to drive!
I swear, when I moved from New Jersey, right outside Manhattan, to Miami, I hated Miami drivers. NY drivers are always in a hurry but very aware of everything going on around them. Miami drivers were just oblivious. Theydstop in the middle of the road for no real reason, come to a complete stop to make a right hand turn, and on and on.
The Cape is awful in the summer. I prefer it off season.
I have lived in New England all my life and I believe there are far worse drivers than Massachusetts.
In New England they have a lot of two-lane highways, and don’t drop their high beams when another driver approaches. They just dazzle you, right in your face. I can imagine that’d increase crashes.
Vacationed in Salem a few times and can confirm from Logan to Salem our Uber drivers either almost hit someone else or almost got us hit. Numerous times. Terrifying.
Strongly disagree. Here in Florida we have the worst drivers. Rude, too fast, never use turn signals. You take your life in your hands every time you’re on the road. And half of them are texting while they’re driving.
Agree, and I think it’s going to get worse. I live near US 19. Florida is planning to extend the US 19 overpass all the way to the Georgia border. Right now, the US 19 overpass near me is a disaster. No stops. Some people driving 45, some people driving 100 mph. The police can’t control it. You can imagine the accidents.
I’m curious Caren. I used to live in Pinellas and you can take US 19 straight to Tallahassee. Tallahassee is literally at the border of Georgia. Is that what you are speaking of?
Florida drivers are absolutely the worst. (There’s a reason why Florida has no license plate on the car’s front, only on the rear.)
And yes, I’ve driven in Massachusetts, LA and even Anchorage (all are also awful but I’ll take LA any day.)
First off, to be fair to Rhode Islanders, a lot of people from Massachusetts drive there, too…
Nuance: older states and states with more hills/ mountains/ rivers etc have different roads than many newer states. I’m glad they mentioned weather. Population is another factor. As a teen I was in the middle of nowhere South Dakota and what people there did was get sh!tfaced and jump in their cars and drive for entertainment. There were a lot less people than out East, people know each other and lots of people do this, and there’s a lot less cops. I’ll buy MA has a roblem and also would buy you’re more likely to be caught.
Brilliant pictures of Ben Affleck! I recognized Matt Damon, but not the guy at the top.
That’s John Krasinki.
The difference I’ve seen is that Mass drivers are supremely confident that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want. Rhode Island drivers seem to be constantly questioning themselves – speeding up, slowing down, hesitating, stopping at inappropriate times, etc.
I’m from Mass and can concur.
I joke that the rules for right of way in a rotary / traffic circle / roundabout read like this for every single driver:
“Who has the right of way in a rotary!
I DO!”
Between the crazy speeders in the slow lane, the lane changers, and the people barrel-a**ing through intersections we’ve got some real beauties here. And our roads are nuts … lived here my whole adult life and still get panic attacks at the thought of driving the 93/95 connection south of the city … too many left hand exits/left hand entrances to 3-5 lane highways with 70-80 mph traffic in all lanes going in every direction.
Though TBH in my daily commute on 495, the biggest issue (aside from speeders and lane rabbiters) are the NH and Maine drivers who plunk themselves in the middle lane at 50 mph for miles, often with stuff in tow, creating bottlenecks of aggravated Mass, NY, NJ drivers who then do stupid ish to get around them. That and tractor trailer drivers who are like Jekyll and Hyde out there.
I my driving life, my cars have been in 4 crashes … 1 in a multi-car pileup caused by a lane changer who braked fast at the last minute … I was able to avoid it until a truck behind me hit me and pushed me into another car. The other 3 I wasn’t even in the car – 2 x people drove into my car when I was parked and the 3rd my mechanic’s brother backed it out of the service bay after a brake job … before they’d put any brake fluid in …so he couldn’t stop and backed it into someone driving by. (And yeah, all in eastern Massachusetts)
Mass resident here. Transplanted two years ago and I have never experienced such bad drivers. I’ve driven all across the eastern seaboard and the Midwest. Mass is absolutely atrocious. The only state where drivers will dart into your lane, daring you to stop. No blinkers? No problem. Stop sign, you say? Pansy. Roll on through and look at the other drivers defiantly…
I’ve never been so proud to be a new Englander not from Mass
We don’t have as many speeding incidents because of the gridlock. You couldn’t speed in many places even if you wanted to.
Has been going on a long time. Boston Globe did a big investigation series as to why Mass car insurance rates were so high and came back with “guys, we really are terrible drivers and getting into accidents all the time.” That said, they did find rates were set based on where accidents/thefts occurred, which meant people living in urban areas were getting higher rates because suburban drivers were getting into accidents and having cars stolen in the city. Local cars weren’t the ones getting stolen.
I take the T pretty much everywhere
Same. Blue line FTW.
Yes, the T or walking.
I love Boston so much but your public transit in comparison to NYC is, how to say this nicely, not great. The T is okay, the green line is the worst lol. Can’t speak to your buses as I don’t do buses. Your Commuter Rail is uh… interesting. The weirdest hours and the hours are so limited on weekends in comparison to Metro North, LIRR, and NJ Transit. I remember finding out once I was trying to get to one specific town outside of Boston on a Saturday and there was a train every 2 hours! It boggled my mind. No wonder most commuters just drive into Boston which may explain the Masshole legend, your train system is terrible. I was spoiled growing up on the New Haven line of Metro North, we have trains every 30 minutes on weekends until very late. Parking is free on weekends and you don’t need a sticker that the weekly commuters need during the week. I didn’t realize what a luxury that was until I realized how bad the Commuter Rail was.
I want to argue that Texas is much worse, but so few people have car insurance there that I assume there are a lot of unreported accidents.
My niece, who moved from MA to Texas, would agree with you. In 5 years, 2 of her cars have been totaled. The first, she was stopped at a red light and a drunk driver, turning at the intersection, plowed head-on into her car (minor injuries to her from broken glass but the front of her car was destroyed. The second, she had a green light and was going through the intersection when a guy ran the red light and t-boned her car.
Most people in Texas have car insurance. The laws are very strict about it. Cops can scan your license plate to be sure you have car insurance and pull you over if you don’t.
They need to start working that scanny machine in the Dallas area suburbs ASAP then.
Agreed. Having lived in Boston for a decade, I thought no one could beat your average Masshole driver. But having moved to Houston four years ago, I have seen things here on the highways that no one outside of Houston would believe! That said, Mass drivers are kind of gleefully malicious (as opposed to Houston where it usually doesn’t feel personal). So I’ll say Boston for meanest, Houston for terrifying speed and recklessness.
Ok I have very strong but mixed feelings about this. As many have pointed out, MA is a very densely-populated state, especially Boston (not just proper but metro) and the surrounding suburbs, so it is very difficult to get to a level of high speed that can lead to a fatal accident. That is absolutely a saving grace. However, Route 1 still exists and the entire stretch from Revere to Danvers is absolutely insane–so many accidents around there and obviously other highways like 93, 95, the Pike etc.
Finally, I disagree that MA drivers are the worst *dodges tomatoes*.
Wait hear me out: I think that overall we drive assertively yet defensively which is the ideal combo. BUT I 100% agree that drivers have gotten SO much worse since the pandemic. Downtown Boston is fucking insane with drivers coming close to mowing down peds in crosswalks as they run red lights. I think people just got really used to flying through downtown and the financial district because there was no traffic and they are not adjusting well to normal traffic levels returning. Everyone seems more angry and aggressive and less patient.
Absolutely. It’s like people forgot to drive after the lockdown, or maybe they just forgot that other people exist and also have the right to the roads. People complain about pedestrians jaywalking in downtown Boston, but it’s really that you just go when you can – there’s no guarantee that the cars will stop. Add to that the motorbike delivery guys and bike riders using the sidewalks instead of the bike lanes, and just going shopping can be an adventure.
Also, we Bostonians have a right to walk wherever we want, whenever we want. So, yes, I am walking straight down the middle of Boylston after a Sox game, that sidewalk is too crowded with slow people. Same with Causeway and Canal Streets.
All of this. The worst are the intersections where the cars have a green light on the right turn (w/a Yield To Peds on Turns sign) and peds have a walk sign. It drives me crazy when I patiently wait for my walk sign and enter the crosswalk only to have a car turning right towards me and not yielding/stopping at all. It really has gotten scary to walk around downtown–you take your life in your hands.
Former D.C. resident here: I’m surprised that D.C. is high for DUI’s given the public transportation option there. The drivers in that area (including surrounding Maryland and Virginia) are truly awful. Huh. I always thought it was just bad, selfish, “me first” drivers. Turns out they’re drunk.
There are compilations online of Maryland drivers running red lights and barreling through intersections.
Loads of people have moved to Tenneseee to exploit the poor. (Tennessee doesn’t have a state income tax so most of the taxes are collected on sky high sales tax on food, gas and other essential items people have to buy to survive. Magats think everyone should pay the same in taxes regardless of income levels/ability to pay and their tax policies are deeply destructive because the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and get crappier and crappier service and infrastructure). The area doesn’t have the infrastructure for the additional people, especially when parts of the interstate traffic are still being rerouted due to Helene damage. I have seen traffic pile-ups and insane driving in a small town of about 5 k near me that make Atlanta traffic look quaint. The larger cities near the Helene caused changes are nuts.
Lifelong California resident, and trust me: it’s CA all the way, every day, when it comes to the worst drivers. Especially in the central valley. Just lost 3 out of 5 members of a family at a local church in one accident because a 22 year old (who also died, was going 80 in a 55 zone. They were on their way to church too.
I grew up in suburban Chicago, and we have our own driving issues. I will never forget the summer my family took a road trip to Boston/Cape Cod. We had never seen those traffic roundabouts before and my dad was just flipping out. How to get in? NO ONE would let us in. How to get out? Change lanes while driving around in a circle? WTF? In Boston we finally parked the car and took the subway everywhere we couldn’t walk. Good times.
Raised in California, was recently in Rhode Island for work and had to drive into Boston for my flight home.
Rhode Island was terrifying to drive. At least with Boston you know what you’re getting.
I had a client from Boston visit me in Portland, OR and he was beyond shocked that we pull aside to let ambulances/firetrucks/police cars through when their sirens are blaring. I asked what they do in Boston and he said “just keep driving, they’ll find a way around.” o_0
As a DC area resident — and former New Yorker, I’m surprised by this. I’d love it if we could prioritize more robust public transportation options.
Mass-hole here. Suburbs of cambridge/bos. i feeeeel like its not our fault a lot of the time. The roads are unmarked (if you’re from here you should know the street names, right??) u mitigated disasters. Literally paved cow paths). Sometimes exits and highway entrances just feet from each other. Then add in your weather, untamed foliage, etc. However, I hold that if you’re using your blinkers, not speeding like a maniac, you can do just about anything (maneuver wise) roughly safely and ppl will try to stay out of your way (presuming daytime and not drunk).
I used to drive to Boston College from the northern suburbs of Boston, and in order to do that I had to enter a busy three-lane road on the right, and somehow get all the way over to the left to get out—in approximately 30 seconds. The roads there are bananas.
As far as speeding in North Dakota goes – the fines for speeding are stupid low, something like a $10 base plus $1 per mile over. I got a speeding ticket a few years back for going 15 mph over the limit and the ticket was like $13. Also, it’s long, flat, straight roads everywhere so it can be very easy to inadvertently have a lead foot.
However, across the river in Minnesota people are a lot more careful. Base fine for speeding is around $150. My dad always used to say, if you’re going to speed in Minnesota, do it in the winter (like today, when it’s -15), because the cops won’t want to get out of their cars to give you a ticket.
Exactly- Husband is from North Dakota. He got a speeding ticket a few years back just zoned out going from hours of interstate driving to county highway driving. Just such long expanses of open roads, no turns, hard not to increase the speed a bit! Ticket was only like $20 also, so ah well. We use cruise control now.
Are they certain bc here in Florida 🙄☠️
Too true.
That is an old rep about MA .. Boston in particular. May still be true.
New Mexico is the worst. Lots of substance abuse. Terrible drivers paying no attention. No insurance.