This Kentucky City Makes Top Ten List of Worst Drivers in U.S.

A friend of mine was over the other night and we were talking about road rage. My road rage is selective in that it really only happens in Wesleyan Park Plaza here in Owensboro. I'm convinced that that parking lot is one of the nine circles of hell most days.

Folks never seem to follow the standard rules of navigating a parking lot there, and I can't tell you how many times I have seen pedestrians almost swiped by drivers not paying attention. It always makes me nervous. Not nearly as nervous as I remember being the first time driving in a big city though.

I went to college in Louisville, and the first time I was behind the wheel and trying to find my way around was pretty much a disaster. These were pre-Google Maps days when I had to either print out Mapquest or call a friend or my parents for help. It was basically a reenactment of this scene from Clueless every time I hit the Watterson Expressway.

Turns out, Louisville is chock full of horrible drivers. After recognizing a 10% increase in fatal car crashes from 2020-2022, Forbes magazine performed a study to find the worst places to drive in the United States. Unfortunately, The Ville did not fare well!

Louisville, Kentucky Named in Top Ten List of Worst Cities to Drive in

Taking into consideration several factors such as distracted driving and the number of fatalities per year, here are some of the results that make Louisville, Kentucky the 7th worst city for drivers.

"Louisville’s score: 83.88 out of 100

Louisville isn’t just home to the Kentucky Derby—it’s also home to some of the worst drivers in America:

Louisville reports the fifth-highest number of fatal car accidents involving a distracted driver (1.47 per 100,000 city residents).
It has the ninth-highest total number of fatal car accidents (14.25 per 100,000 city residents).
Louisville ranks 10th highest for the number of people killed in fatal crashes (14.99 per 100,000 city residents)"