Virginia has a high concentration of bad drivers, according to a recent study from Insurify, which found that 26.52 percent of the commonwealth’s drivers have a past traffic citation. With a national average of 21.34 percent, Virginia ranks fourth place on the list — only Ohio, Iowa, and Nebraska have a higher percentage of drivers with past traffic citations.
“Virginia’s overall driving incident rate eclipses the national average by 20 percent, making its drivers the fourth-worst in America. The proportion of traffic fatalities in the Old Dominion is only marginally lower than the national average, and additionally, Virginia came first in the nation in Insurify’s report on rude drivers in the U.S. in 2021,” Insurify reports.
Two Virginia cities, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach are in the top 20 of U.S. cities with high concentrations of drivers with past traffic citations as well according to a separate Insurify study of insurance and traffic citation data.
A third Insurify study uses the same data to identify cities with the most aggressive drivers, based on specific traffic citations linked to aggression: speeding, passing where prohibited, tailgating, followed by failure to stop and failure to yield. Chesapeake, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lynchburg all make that list. The aggressive driving study said that’s not linked to a higher density of police officers in an area.
But other studies report that Virginia also ranks high on strict driving law metrics, suggesting that there might be more to the high percentage of Virginians with traffic citations.
Virginia ranks third on a 2021 Finder.com list of states with strict driving laws. Virginia has high speeding fines up to $2,500 and up to 12 months jail time.
“Although they are relatively common, speeding offenses can be very serious in Virginia with some of them rising to the level of criminal charges,” states a website for Criminal Defense Attorney Karin Riley Porter.
In Virginia, speeding more than 20 miles per hour is reckless driving, a criminal offense that can earn up to 12 months in jail and a fine of $2,500.
“Virginia is very proud of its strict driving rules and officers all over the state routinely hand out speeding tickets,” Porter’s site states.
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and the Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Virginia Traffic” by Famartin CC4.0.
