These cities have the worst drivers in the Northeast, according to a new report
New York drivers could face increased penalties for breaking laws
Starting in 2026, New York drivers might face increased penalties for not adhering to certain driving laws. FOX 5 NY's Linda Schmidt breaks it down.
NEW YORK - You think drivers in your hometown are bad? Well, if you live in one of these towns, you might be right.
A new study is out from Consumer Affairs, ranking cities across the Northeast on their bad driving habits.
Worst drivers in the Northeast
What we know:
To make their rankings, the study looked at crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The calculated the number of fatal crashes, including crashes involving DUI, speeding, positive blood alcohol readings and more per 100,000 residents.
Based off that info, these are the 10 worst cities:
- Waterbury, Connecticut
- Camden, New Jersey
- Lakewood, New Jersey
- Hartford, Connecticut
- Cranston, Rhode Island
- Springfield Massachusetts
- New Haven, Connecticut
- Newark, New Jersey
- Stamford, Connecticut
- Trenton, New Jersey
Here's a map of the top 50:
Connecticut, New Jersey dominate list
By the numbers:
Take a look at the data long enough, and you start to notice a few things. For one, Connecticut and New Jersey are prominently featured. They each have four cities ranked in the top 10. Waterbury, Connecticut, has the unfortunate honor of top spot. Consumer Affairs found their traffic fatalities per 100,000 people (12.94) is nearly double the national average (6.54).
They ranked highest in the nation for fatal DUI crashes per 100,000 people, propelling the city to the third-worst spot across the U.S.
No other Northeast city made the top 40.
What cities have better drivers?
Local perspective:
New York City faired pretty well in the rankings, at 56th worst in the Northeast.
But researchers found one state more than most consistently had cities with fewer bad drivers — Massachusetts.
New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., were all ranked recently as some of the worst cities in the country to drive in, too. That WalletHub study published in October looked at things like safety, infrastructure and maintenance costs. Philadelphia was ranked the No. 1 worst city to drive in.
The Source: Information in this story is from Consumer Affairs' "Northeastern cities with the worst drivers" and WalletHub's "Best & Worst Cities to Drive in (2025)."