This already made the rounds in local media but in case you Motown motorists missed it, Forbes magazine declared Detroit drivers the #3 worst drivers in the United States, fact-checked and everything.
I know you're dying to know who won the Death Race 2024 and who the other contenders were without jumping over to the linked article, so because I love you all…
- Albuquerque, NM (pop. 564,559)[^1]
- Memphis, TN (pop. 633,104)
- Detroit, MI (pop. 639,111)
- Tucson, AZ (pop. 542,629)
- Kansas City, MO (pop. 508,090)
- Dallas, TX (pop. 1,304,379)
- Louisville, KY (pop. 633,045)
- Phoenix, AZ (pop. 1,608,139)
- Fort Worth, TX (pop. 918,915)
- Tampa, FL (pop. 384,959)
Hmmm…according to Jonathon Ramsey (who apparently did the math) at autoblog.com…
Detroit almost swept second place in every metric [emphasis mine -- r^2^], only missing out by coming 22nd in the distracted driving category.
I found amusing that over at WXYZ.com, not one interviewee really defended with any conviction Detroit driving nor drivers!
"Honestly, it depends where. Like downtown drivers are a little more aware of pedestrians and stuff but outside of the downtown area, it can get a little squirrely," Josh Rzeppa said. "It's hard to say how you're ranking, because you know during rush hour anywhere its going to be crazy."
r^2^ Rabbit Hole Time™ #1: according to the World Population Review as of 2024 there are…
19,495 incorporated cities, towns and villages in the United States. 14,768 of these have populations below 5,000. Only ten have populations above 1 million and none are above 10 million. 310 cities are considered at least medium cities with populations of 100,000 or more.
r^2^ Rabbit Hole Time™ #2: way back in pre-COVID19 2017, WXYZ did some guesstimation on how many unlicensed drivers there may be in the state…
So how many unlicensed drivers are on the road in Michigan? […] Hard to say exactly, because, well, they are unlicensed and live in the shadows. The state doesn't have that data, but the Michigan Secretary of State told us there are 7.1 million licensed drivers in the state.
Approximately 1.5 million Michiganders of driving age are unaccounted for and potentially on the road - unlicensed. […]That doesn't include those licensed with suspended licenses, a problem the 7 Investigators exposed earlier this year.
AAA says those drivers account for 1 out of 5 deadly crashes -staggering numbers and a lot of unanswered questions.
[^1]: all population counts are from 2010-2020 US census
Additional reading: The Metro Times -- Detroiters are bad at driving, and the consequences are deadly