We Mississippians are good at a lot of things. However, according to Smart Asset, driving isn’t one of them. In fact, a 2019 study by the national financial technology company named Mississippi drivers the worst in the nation! Read on to learn how the ranking was computed, how other states fared, and more.

Last year, Smart Asset set out to find the states with the worst drivers in America. In June, the website released its findings, naming Mississippi the number one state for bad drivers.
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Sadly, it’s not the first time the Magnolia State claimed the title. This is actually the second year in a row Mississippi drivers were named the nation’s worst.
But Mississippi isn’t the only southern state to land a spot at the top of Smart Asset’s list.
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In fact, five of the list's top 10 states are in the south – and they are Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, of course.
In order to determine each state’s ranking, the website took four factors into account. The percentage of insured drivers in the state was the first factor considered.
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Per the study, only 76.30% of Mississippi drivers had insurance. To put that number into perspective, it was the second lowest in the study.

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Next, researchers analyzed the number of DUI arrests per every thousand drivers.
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Faring much better in this category, Mississippi had about 3.72 DUI incidents per thousand drivers, while South Dakota had 12.99 DUI incidents per thousand drivers - the highest in the nation.
The third factor taken into account was the number of times residents searched online for terms, such as traffic ticket or speeding ticket.
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Findings concluded that the Magnolia State has the eighth highest search volume for ticket-related phrases.
Lastly, Smart Asset evaluated the number of traffic-related fatalities per 100,000 miles driven.
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Pretty shocking, the study found that in Mississippi, 1.69 people die per 100 million miles driven! The results for Kentucky were the same, tying Mississippi and Kentucky for the second highest fatality rates in the US.
No matter how Mississippi drivers rank, one thing's for sure - our hospitality can't be beat!
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And while we trust the researchers over at Smart Asset, we can't help but notice they didn't take into account the beautiful windshield views, which can be a bit distracting to drivers.

Were you surprised by the Magnolia State’s ranking? Or, did you already know that Mississippi drivers ranked among the nation’s worst? Tell us in the comments section.

Our state may not be the best at driving, but we’re the best at plenty of other things. Click here to learn more.

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