Which States Have the Worst Drivers in 2025?

Mississippi, Colorado and Tennessee have the worst and most irresponsible drivers in the country when considering factors like drunk driving incidents, traffic fatalities and uninsured motorist rates. Keep in mind that the worst drivers by state may impact your car insurance premiums, as your insurer may deem you a higher risk and charge you more for coverage if you live in an area with a high rate of accidents.

Continue reading for more information on risky driving behaviors, including how common certain traffic violations are in each state.

On This Page

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  Best and Worst Drivers in America by State

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  Worst Drivers by State

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  Best Drivers by State

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  Regional Trends

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  Worst Drivers vs. Rudest Drivers

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  What Types of Driving Behaviors Increase Risks While on the Road?

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  FAQs

Best and Worst Drivers in America by State

To determine the best and worst drivers in the U.S. by state, SmartFinancial ranked each state and Washington, D.C., based on the following metrics:

• Number of driving under the influence (DUI) arrests per 100,000 people
• Number of traffic deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled
• Estimated percentage of drivers who do not have auto insurance

The following table includes the relevant data for every state and orders the states based on their average rank across each category, with first place indicating the state with the worst drivers and 51st place indicating the state with the best drivers. Note that some states are tied with the same average score.^[1][2][3]

Worst Drivers by State

Check out the following sections for more information about the five states with the worst drivers in the United States.^[1][2][3]

1. Mississippi

Mississippi has the highest rate of both fatal car accidents and uninsured drivers in the country, making it the worst state for drivers overall. The state experiences 1.79 traffic fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles, and nearly 30% of its drivers are uninsured. Even on its best metric, Mississippi has a fairly middle-of-the-pack DUI score, ranking 28th with 256.1 arrests per 100,000 people.

2. Colorado

On average, the second-worst drivers in the nation reside in Colorado, which ranks in the top 10 for the highest DUI and uninsured motorist rates. Specifically, Colorado ranks fifth with 422 DUI arrests per 100,000 people, ninth with an uninsured driver percentage of 19.7% and 22nd with 1.32 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles.

3. Tennessee

Tennessee comes in third on the list of states with the worst drivers. Its worst metrics include a 21.3% uninsured driver rate — fifth-worst in the nation — and 1.59 deaths per 100 million miles traveled — tied for sixth-worst. Meanwhile, Tennessee ranks a middling 25th on DUIs, with 290.3 arrests per 100,000 residents.

4. Kentucky

With 1.66 traffic fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles, Kentucky has the fourth-highest rate of deadly car crashes. Combined with the 16th-highest number of drinking and driving violations per 100,000 drivers — 340 — and an uninsured driving rate tied for 20th-worst in the country — 14.1% — Kentucky ends up as the fourth-worst state overall when it comes to driving behaviors.

5. Oregon

Oregon rounds out the top-five states with the most dangerous and least responsible drivers. Residents of Oregon face a traffic fatality rate of 1.59 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles, tying with Tennessee for the sixth-highest rate in the United States. Meanwhile, Oregon ranks a mediocre 18th place on both DUIs and uninsured drivers, with 320.4 DUI arrests per 100,000 people and 14.7% of drivers going without coverage.

Best Drivers by State

In the upcoming sections, you’ll learn more about the states whose residents have the best driving records on average.^[1][2][3]

1. Massachusetts

Massachusetts ranks in the bottom 10 for every negative driving behavior we analyzed, making it the state with the best drivers overall. This includes the lowest driver fatality rate of 0.56 per 100 million car miles, the fifth-lowest DUI arrest rate of 126.3 per 100,000 people and the seventh-lowest uninsured driver percentage of 7.9%.

2. New York

New York drivers boast an incredibly consistent record, as the state ranks 44th in all three categories considered in this analysis. Statistics that contribute to its high-quality performance include a DUI rate of 136.7 arrests per 100,000 residents, a traffic death rate of 0.93 fatalities per 100 million miles driven and an uninsured driver percentage of 8.6%.

3. Nebraska

Nebraska comes in third place in our analysis, most notably putting up the fourth-best DUI numbers in the country at only 40.9 arrests per 100,000 drivers. In addition, Nebraska is tied for No. 35 in the nation with 1.07 traffic fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles and ranks No. 42 in the nation with 9.5% of its residents driving without car insurance.

4. Utah

With bottom-five placements in two separate categories, Utah has the fourth-best drivers in the United States on the whole. Standouts of Utah’s resume include a 48th-place finish on traffic fatalities per 100 million miles and a 50th-place finish on uninsured driving rates, with results of 0.81 and 6.2%, respectively. However, the state is held back somewhat by the fact that it ranks 27th on DUI charges, with 257.3 arrests per 100,000 residents.

5. Rhode Island

Rounding out the top-five states with the best drivers is Rhode Island. Its best metric is its traffic fatality rate, with its 0.94 deaths per 100 million miles traveled ranking as the ninth-best mark in the country. Rhode Island also has the 13th-lowest DUI numbers — 168.7 arrests per 100,000 people — but it is limited by the fact that it has the 25th-highest uninsured driver rate — 12.4%.

Regional Trends

Bad drivers are most heavily concentrated in the western United States, as six of the top-10 states with the worst drivers are located in the Pacific West and Mountain West divisions — Colorado, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Arizona and California. That said, three of the top-four states — Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky — are located in the East South Central division in the southern United States.^[4]

Meanwhile, Missouri rounds out the top 10 as the only representative from the Midwest region’s West North Central division.^[4]

Conversely, the safest drivers tend to reside in the Middle Atlantic and New England divisions of the Northeast region, with Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine and New Jersey claiming spots in the bottom nine. Additionally, the Midwest region includes three bottom-10 states — Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana — while Utah and Virginia are the lone outliers from other regions at the bottom of the worst drivers rankings.^[4]

Worst Drivers vs. Rudest Drivers

Rude driving habits do not necessarily correlate with reckless driving or other risky on-the-road behaviors. For example, New Jersey has the sixth-most aggressive drivers despite having the eighth-best drivers overall in our analysis. Nevertheless, New Mexico and Colorado rank in the top 10 for both rude driving and poor driving overall.^[5]

Here are the top-10 states with the rudest drivers, based on the number of incidents involving road rage or careless driving:^[5]

1. Louisiana
2. New Mexico
3. Colorado
4. Arkansas
5. Montana
6. New Jersey
7. North Carolina
8. Hawaii
9. Nevada
10. Florida

What Types of Driving Behaviors Increase Risks While on the Road?

Below, you’ll learn more about some of the most common driving behaviors that can increase your odds of causing a car accident that results in property damage, serious injury or even death.

Speeding

Speeding resulted in 11,775 casualties across the United States in 2023, accounting for close to 30% of all traffic deaths.^[6] When you drive faster than the speed limit, you risk losing control of your vehicle more easily, and the damage will be more severe if you get into a collision. It can become even more hazardous if you try weaving in and out of traffic on a busy highway while speeding.

Driving While Impaired

There were 12,429 fatalities in crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers in 2023 — equating to one drunk driving death every 42 minutes.^[7] Drugs and alcohol can impair your critical thinking skills and reaction times, making it harder to make wise choices and respond to hazards while behind the wheel. If you intend to go out and drink, you need to take public transportation, call a rideshare service or ride home with a sober friend afterward.

Driving While Distracted

Distracted driving resulted in the deaths of 3,275 people in 2023. Texting and driving is particularly dangerous, but you should also avoid or aim to mitigate other common driver distractions, such as talking on the phone, eating or drinking, talking to others in the car, changing the radio station and interacting with your GPS.^[8]

Driving While Drowsy

In 2023, there were 633 traffic deaths attributed to drowsy driving, with most of them occurring between midnight and 6 a.m. or in the late afternoon. However, the actual number of fatal accidents may be even higher because it is hard to definitively determine whether drowsiness was a factor contributing to a collision after the fact. It’s estimated that as many as 91,000 police-reported collisions in 2017 involved fatigued or sleepy drivers.^[9]

Driving Without a Seat Belt

While driving without a seat belt may not endanger others, it greatly increases the odds that you will be injured or killed in the event of a car crash. Of all the passenger vehicle occupants who died in car accidents in 2023, almost half of them were not wearing seat belts — accounting for well over 10,000 casualties. Conversely, it’s estimated that about 15,000 people involved in collisions survived because they were wearing seat belts.^[10]