Southern California home to some of nation's worst drivers, study says
A new study suggests that some of the nation's worst drivers call Southern California home, and data shows that both of those cities are actually found in the Inland Empire.
According to the study, Worst Drivers in America 2024 conducted by ConsumerAffairs, two San Bernardino County cities rank amongst the nation's top five worst drivers.
The study uses National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data on the number of fatal crashes, the number of fatal crashes related to bad driving, the number of fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content and the number of fatalities involving speeding per 100,000 people.
Both Victorville and the city of San Bernardino itself rank No. 2 and No. 4 on the list, with scores that eclipse 60 on the study's scale of 100.
Victorville ranks so highly because of the high number of traffic-related deaths involving alcohol, ranking second-highest in that mark, and fifth-highest in deadly crashes linked to speeding.
Though San Bernardino ranks behind Victorville, they actually led their county counterpart in deadly crashes that involved DUI drivers (7.7 per 100,00 people) and fatalities linked to speeding (11.3 per 100,000 people).
Residents say that they're not surprised to learn about the study's ranking.
"A lot of accidents, road rage, flipped cars," said Erika Grijavla, who lives in the area. "We've seen somebody die at one of the intersections that has most of the accidents."
Darlene, a school crossing guard that works in San Bernardino, says that they some drivers don't even let up on the reckless driving in school zones.
"I would say 10% stop at the stop signs, even in the mornings when I'm crossing the kids," she said.
Despite housing the two cities, and the negative stigma of bad drivers in California, the Golden State actually ranks somewhat positively when it comes to the overall score — ranking No. 33 out of 50.
The study classifies bad driving as behaviors that include aggressive or carless driving, wrong-way driving, failure to yield, passing where not permitted and making illegal turns, amongst others.
For the second year in a row, Memphis, Tennessee topped the chart, while Macon, Georgia (No. 3) and Jackson, Mississippi rounded out the top five.
Several other Southern California cities were also ranked in the top 50, with Fontana ranking No. 31, Riverside ranking No. 40, Orange ranking No. 43 and Corona coming in at No. 47.