Austin drivers not the worst in Texas or the US (Houston: transplants, college)

[CptnRn]

I often see people making statements here that Austin drivers are the worst in the country. I wondered if there was any truth to that statement, so I did a little research. I could not find traffic accident or statistics listed by City so I had to make due with what information was available.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does tabulate the number of traffic fatalities by State and County. Fatality counts are not the only measure of good or bad drivers, but they certainly are a highly relevant factor.

The fatality count data for states includes the Fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles driven
FARS Encyclopedia: States - Fatalities and Fatality Rates

Montana 2.12
Louisiana 2.03
South Carolina 1.86
Arkansas 1.81
Wyoming 1.68
Alabama 1.63
Nevada 1.56
Oklahoma 1.55
Arizona 1.52
Idaho 1.52
Texas 1.48

Which shows pretty clearly that there are numerous other states with far worse fatality counts then Texas. Texas would be number 11 on that list.

OK, so is it still possible that Austin has the worst drivers in Texas?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does tabulate the number of traffic fatalities by County. FARS Encyclopedia: States - Fatalities and Fatality Rates I had to look up the population for each county and do the math to come up with a fatality rate per 100,000 population in order to be able to compare the numbers. Since there were numerous counties with fatality counts higher then Travis County, I calculated this only for counties with a total fatality count over 30. and came up with the following list.

Fatality rate/100,000 population, County (City), fatalities, population

23.61 Smith (Tyler) 47 198,705
20.52 Tarrant (Ft. Worth) 134 653,320
16.55 Montgomery (Hus-SL-Baytown) 74 447,718
16.52 McLennan (Waco) 42 230,213
15.63 LUbbock 38 242,628
10.59 Nueces (Corpus) 33 313,645
9.27 El Paso 70 755,085
9.16 Travis (Austin) 94 1,026,158
9.02 Bexar (San Antonio) 149 fatalities 1,651,448
8.53 Williamson (Austin/RR) 35 410,686
8.32 Harris (Hus-SL-Baytown) 339 4,070,989
6.42 Dallas 160 2,492,850

Clearly there are numerous Counties/Cities in Texas that have higher fatality rates, and therefore worse drivers then Austin.

The quote below is from another thread:

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

The one thing I very much agree on is the horrible drivers. In my experience US drivers are some of the best, but as far as American drivers go Austin is the worst. It is still much better than most everywhere I have been overseas though.

I find it amusing when I see statements such as this, one because I don't believe it and two because it is mathematically impossible for most of the drivers on the road to be native Austinites. The truth is that most of Austin's drivers moved here from someplace else. Austin has been growing at a rate of 35% to 65% every 10 years for the last 70 years, so the number of native Austin drivers on the road is miniscule compared to all of the transplants. At best you could claim that Austin attracts the nations worst drivers to live here, but only if you could prove that Austin has the worst drivers. I don't that can be proven, and the data above clearly refutes it in my opinion.

[BevoLJ]

I have lived in the North East and in LA. I am just saying from my experience that pretty much anywhere you drive in Caly they have the best drivers. My biggest complaint about the drivers over there is they drive to slow. It always drove me nuts. In the NE they drive faster and a bit crazier. But even while they may be just as rude and aggressive as drivers here in Austin they are better drivers IMO. Especially if it rains or there is any ice or snow. I don't think there is any road in the world I'd least like to be on than a icy road in Austin. =) Just a touch of ice in Austin and it is like the world is ending in this city.

I love Austin to death, but I gota say... just from my own personal experience from the places I have lived or traveled in the US, Austin has the rudest most aggressive drivers. Unless I am on my way to Houston, Dallas, or on a big highway going to another city, I always drive the speed limit. No where outside of Austin do I see so many people in such a hurry and driving so fast. Here in Austin it is really like the speed limit is much more of a suggestion than a limit. Granted, perhaps the main reason people don't drive so fast in NYC or Boston is because the tunnels are parking lots most of the time. =P

I don't have any fancy stats to back up my experience. Although I did get run into more in Caly than anywhere else, I still think they have the best drivers. Perhaps why they drive so slow and I got hit so much is because they are all stoned.

[capcat]

That's informative, CptnRn. Information is good. An inconvenient truth sometimes, but good.

[CptnRn]

I found an error in the population number I used for Tarrant County, Ft. Worth.
I grabbed the wrong population number I used for the Tarrant County calculation. I revised the numbers and double checked the other City populations to make sure they were correct. Here is the corrected listing.

Fatality rate/100,000 population, County (City), fatalities, population

23.61 Smith (Tyler) 47 198,705
16.55 Montgomery (Hus-SL-Baytown) 74 447,718
16.52 McLennan (Waco) 42 230,213
15.63 LUbbock 38 242,628
10.59 Nueces (Corpus) 33 313,645
9.27 El Paso 70 755,085
9.16 Travis (Austin) 94 1,026,158
9.02 Bexar (San Antonio) 149 fatalities 1,651,448
8.53 Williamson (Austin/RR) 35 410,686
8.32 Harris (Hus-SL-Baytown) 339 4,070,989
7.8 Tarrant (Ft. Worth) 134 1,717,435
6.42 Dallas 160 2,492,850

Ft. Worth is still ahead of Dallas!

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by capcat

That's informative, CptnRn. Information is good. An inconvenient truth sometimes, but good.

I always prefer to know the facts then to accept the bulls***.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

I have lived in the North East and in LA. I am just saying from my experience that pretty much anywhere you drive in Caly they have the best drivers. My biggest complaint about the drivers over there is they drive to slow. It always drove me nuts. In the NE they drive faster and a bit crazier. But even while they may be just as rude and aggressive as drivers here in Austin they are better drivers IMO. Especially if it rains or there is any ice or snow. I don't think there is any road in the world I'd least like to be on than a icy road in Austin. =) Just a touch of ice in Austin and it is like the world is ending in this city.

I love Austin to death, but I gota say... just from my own personal experience from the places I have lived or traveled in the US, Austin has the rudest most aggressive drivers. Unless I am on my way to Houston, Dallas, or on a big highway going to another city, I always drive the speed limit. No where outside of Austin do I see so many people in such a hurry and driving so fast. Here in Austin it is really like the speed limit is much more of a suggestion than a limit. Granted, perhaps the main reason people don't drive so fast in NYC or Boston is because the tunnels are parking lots most of the time. =P

I don't have any fancy stats to back up my experience. Although I did get run into more in Caly than anywhere else, I still think they have the best drivers. Perhaps why they drive so slow and I got hit so much is because they are all stoned.

@BevoLJ; I just wanted to state that I wasn't trying to pick on you in particular. Your comments that I quoted above were just one of several similar comments that I have seen and decided to verify for myself.

For what it is worth, I lived in LA for 1.5 years and was in fact impressed with how careful and considerate most of the drivers were. I suspected that it was because they had been living with the congested freeways longer then most parts of the US and had adapted.

I also agree regarding driving in Austin on ice or snow, it is a good thing that most of the City shuts down when that happens. But it is understandable that no one here has snow tires or is prepared for that kind of weather. And Texas has too many huge fly-over freeways and road crossings that become extremely dangerous when iced over.

[txgolfer130]

Err...just a quick thought, have you checked what the speed limit differentials are between the states...particularly Montana?

Also in your fatality numbers, have you done a correlation as to the geographic density to fatalities? In other words, are they long stretches of highway vs. a dense populated urban area?

[eichlerfan]

CptnRn, I respect your research and obviously Austin does not have the "worst" drivers. However I have driven in several states around the country and I still say that Austin has terrible drivers. Now I really don't care if they are native Texans, transplants, college students, etc. They drive way too fast, are extremely impatient and are just down right rude. Oh and I forgot - they love their horns way too much.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by eichlerfan

They drive way too fast, are extremely impatient and are just down right rude. Oh and I forgot - they love their horns way too much.

That's usually true, but this year, not so much.

[BevoLJ]

Originally Posted by eichlerfan

Oh and I forgot - they love their horns way too much.

There is not such thing as to much love for the horns!

lol, like the above poster said.... not so much this year. =P You should try college station for crazy love of team that never quite measures up to the fans expectations.