A driver from Dallas was shocked at the driving patterns of Miami residents after recently visiting the densely populated Florida city. The woman’s TikTok post detailing her surprise upon coming face-to-face with this revelation went viral on the Miami-Dade, Florida-centric Facebook page, Dade Social. “I thought Dallas drivers were bad,” she writes in the first portion of an on-screen caption. However, her assessment of poor driving habits was completely overhauled once she arrived in the 305. “Then I went to Miami. What did I just witness?” she added to her on-screen caption.
Her clip begins with her looking into the camera and shaking her head before it transitions to footage of the road before her. Cars can be seen swerving in and out of lanes interchangeably, signaling for a brief second or two as they all engage in a dangerous ballet of pavement swapping. It appears as if the commuters in front of her treat the rules of the road like a live-action video game where they’ll have points deducted for braking.
Which States Have the Worst Drivers?
Depending on who you ask, it seems that rankings of America’s best and worst drivers vary. Insurance provider The Zebra compiled this list of the 10 worst US cities, where it based its criteria for poor driving habits on four separate factors. They are: collision likelihood, DUI fatalities, speeding fatalities, and increases in insurance premiums for drivers slapped with reckless driving or DUI violations.
The Zebra rates Los Angeles as the worst American city for taking to the road. New Orleans follows in the number two spot. The insurance company went on to name other California cities as having folks who aren’t particularly adept at driving safely, either. Sacramento, San Jose, San Bernardino, San Diego, and San Francisco were all included in the list, making the Golden State the worst area in America for driving.
Others Disagree
Absent from The Zebra’s list are Dallas and Miami. However, there are some who’ve claimed that Florida is home to some particularly unsafe drivers, too. The moving business Clever Move penned that Jacksonville, Florida, is actually the worst city for driving, not Los Angeles. According to the business, the southeastern peninsula territory is home to two other cities in the top five worst areas to drive in, adding Orlando and Tampa to that list.
The moving company’s blog post adds that one out of every five Florida drivers doesn’t insure their vehicles. Furthermore, Jacksonville “has the highest number of alcohol-related driving deaths, with 2.9 per 100,000 residents,” Clever Move writes. This figure makes The Bold City home to a 66% higher-than-average DUI driving death rate when compared to other places in the U.S.
Conversely, Clever Move writes that New York City is actually the safest place in the world for drivers, despite its notoriety for rage-inducing traffic jams. The moving business’s article did, however, mention that Americans’ perception of California drivers was conflicted. It stated that San Diego, Los Angeles, and Sacramento have been praised for having particularly adept commuters who obey the rules of the road. However, a significant number of people also decried Los Angeles as having bad drivers, with San Francisco and San Joe drivers also getting jeers for their behavior in traffic.
More Floridian Driver Slander
Additionally, this real estate blog echoed Clever Move’s assertion that Florida is a state that’s home to the worst drivers in America. “Florida has the most reckless drivers for the second year in a row,” a 2024 entry on its website reads. Moreover, it stated that Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, and Miami all ranked “in the top 10 worst cities for drivers.”
And there are a lot of people who replied to Dade Social’s post who felt the same way about The Magic City. One person wrote: “Miami is like driving Tetris: you look ahead to see the gap. You only use your blinkers after you already halfway crossed into the lane. If too early, the other drivers speed up and won’t let you in. My theory: many ACs must be broken so they’re all driving as fast as possible to escape heat.”
A Miami resident also corroborated the aforementioned remark and what they saw in the Dade Social Facebook post. “This is so Miami! I am a native Miamian and I can’t stand people that don’t use blinkers. My husband says he doesn’t otherwise they ‘won’t’ let him in. He’s right too,” they penned.
Motor1 has reached out to Dade Social via Facebook message and @jvk344 via TikTok direct message for further comment.
