It’s Official Fellow Iowans, We’re America’s Worst Drivers

This is downright embarrassing, especially when you consider we were MUCH better just a short time ago.

If you drove to work this morning and had at least one instance of a fellow driver doing something that drove you crazy, you're likely in the majority. Statistics show Iowa has the worst drivers in the entire U.S. Let's dive in. Or maybe I should say speed in.

QuoteWizard by LendingTree took a look at insurance quotes to see which states have the best and worst drivers. They examined four different categories: Accidents, Citations, DUIs, and Speeding tickets. Needless to say, we didn't do well in any of them, in a big departure from 2020.

In 2021, Iowa drivers were 12th-highest in accidents, 2nd-highest in citations, 6th-highest in DUIs, and 5th-highest in speeding tickets. That's nothing short of awful.

Here's some of what QuoteWizard said about Iowa:

Iowa doesn’t just have the worst drivers in America, they also went pretty quickly in the wrong direction. In just one year, Iowa went from being the 23rd best driving state to the worst. Iowa became the worst by ranking high in nearly every statistical category in 2021.

A couple of months ago we wrote a tongue-in-cheek story about how much money the state of Iowa could make if they ticketed Iowans for not using turn signals.

Last month, we reported on a new initiative by law enforcement across the state to try to slow down drivers and save lives. As of this morning, the Iowa DOT reports 272 people have been killed on Iowa roads this year. That's the highest number of year-to-date fatalities on October 18 since 2016.

Here are the states with the worst drivers:

• #5 Alaska
• #4 California
• #3 Virginia
• #2 North Dakota
• #1 Iowa

The states with the best drivers:

• #5 Illinois
• #4 Kentucky
• #3 Oklahoma
• #2 West Virginia
• #1 New Hampshire