Surprised? Study Claims Massachusetts Has The Best Drivers
BOSTON (CBS) – A lot has been said about Massachusetts drivers, not much of it good.
But for the second year in a row, a financial tech firm says the stereotype about people behind the wheel in the Bay State is all wrong.
SmartAsset says Massachusetts is home to the best drivers in the country. Last year, they said the state was third-best.
Their ranking looks at the percentage of drivers with car insurance, the drunk driving rate, the number of fatalities per 100 million miles and how frequently people Google "parking tickets."
In Massachusetts, SmartAsset says 96.1 percent of drivers have insurance, and there are only 1.64 drunk driving arrests per 1,000 drivers. The death rate on the road is also low, with .052 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles.
Florida is named the state with the worst drivers, and the rest of the south doesn't fare much better, according to SmartAsset. They also assert "the best drivers are in New England," with Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine joining Massachusetts in the Top 5.
Before bragging to friends in other states about this new ranking, it should be noted that other studies on the subject have come to a very different conclusion.
Just last month, Allstate released its annual safe drivers list and Boston came in dead last, followed closely by Worcester and Springfield. That study used different criteria to come up with a ranking, looking at insurance claim data as well as "hard-braking events" per 1,000 miles.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
