EverQuote – an online aggregator of insurance quotes – utilizing over 781 million miles of 2017 driving data that was compiled with its EverDrive app, has concluded that that Pennsylvania motorists are the third worst drivers in the United States. In order to reach this conclusion, the firm examined a handful of unsafe driving behaviors that could lead to dangerous on-the-road circumstances or even car accidents. The behaviors that EverDrive measured were aggressive acceleration, hard turning, hard braking, using a phone/handheld device while driving and speeding.
The EverDrive Safe Driving Report 2018 analyzed the data by looking at the percentage of driving tips that involved these unsafe driving behaviors. The report concluded that the overall worst drivers – and by far heaviest of foot – resided in the Northeast region. Rounding out the five states whose drivers had the most unsafe habits were Connecticut, which was deemed least safe, and Rhode Island, which were below Pennsylvania in the report, as well as Delaware and Maryland, coming in just ahead of the Keystone State.
Nationwide, speeding was the most common unsafe driving habit, occurring in 38 percent of all measured trips in 2017. Close behind was mobile phone use, which was involved in 37 percent of 2017 trips across the country. Of the trips analyzed, 23 percent involved hard braking, aggressive acceleration was detected in 14 percent and 11 percent included hard turning behavior.
Pennsylvania drivers were on par with the national average when it came to using a phone while driving – phone use was involved in 37 percent of the state’s 2017 driving trips. However, Keystone State motorists were speeding on 49 percent of the trips they took that year. The states with the safest drivers in 2017 were sparsely-populated western and Plains states. Montana topped the list, followed by Wyoming and South Dakota.