Just How Bad Are Connecticut Drivers?

If you drive in Connecticut you've probably been frustrated by some (many?) of your fellow motorists, which might lead you to question just how bad are the state's drivers? A new report by the online insurance provider EverQuote offers an answer which is bad. Real bad.

Connecticut drivers collectively ranked 50th out of the 50 states in the "EverDrive Safe Driving Report 2018," which studied data culled from EverQuote's cell phone app.

"EverQuote analyzed 781 million miles of driving data from 2017 to reveal how Americans are handling themselves behind the wheel," wrote EverQuote. "Data comes from our free safe-driving app, EverDrive, which helps people track driving habits and better understand what they're doing well and what they can improve upon."

Connecticut drivers were at or near the top in vehicle trips with at least one of these unsafe driving behaviors: Speeding, Phone use, Acceleration, Hard braking or Hard turning.

In its methodology, EverQuote writes:

The EverDrive app derives measurements from several components inside a phone, including: GPS, accelerometer, device screen on/off and gyroscope. The app measures and ranks driving skills, from 0 to 100, based on the following factors:

• Speeding: A speeding event is recorded if the vehicle's speed exceeds the estimated safe speed of the road. Of note, speed limits vary in different states and states with better speeding scores may in fact be driving faster than drivers in other states.
• Phone use: A phone event is recorded if the following three conditions are all true:
• Screen is on and unlocked
• The phone is being moved in a way that indicates it is in a person's hand
• The vehicle is moving faster than a minimum speed
• Hard acceleration/hard braking: These events are flagged when the longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle is moving faster than a minimum speed.
• Hard turning: Hard-turning events are flagged when the lateral acceleration of the vehicle exceeds a certain threshold over a sufficiently long period.

In fact, the state's drivers exceeded the chart when it came to Speeding, logging 56 percent of vehicle trips with that behavior, while the chart only registered 50 percent. Nationwide, the average percentage of such trips was 38 percent, according to the report.

After Connecticut, the next worst state for drivers has Rhode Island (49th), followed by Pennsylvania (48th), Delaware and Maryland.

As for the state with the best drivers, that's Montana, followed by Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska and Idaho.

To view the complete EverDrive Safe Driving Report 2018, click here.

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