Back in 2021, we wrote about Milwaukee’s nasty habit of passing on the right, a.k.a. the “Milwaukee Slide,” a.k.a. “lol it’s called ‘baselining’ you out-of-touch doofuses.” And though the “Milwaukee Slide” / “baselining” isn’t explicitly mentioned, we’re guessing it was just one of the reckless driving all-timers that insurance review site QuoteWizard took into account when it recently ranked Wisconsin as the fourth-worst driving state in the country. Seems kinda low, to be honest.
“Alcohol and speeding are the reasons why Wisconsin has the fourth-worst drivers in the nation,” QuoteWizard’s study reads. “Wisconsin ranks fourth in DUIs and fifth in speeding tickets. Like Utah, Wisconsin drivers have also been headed in the wrong direction over the last few years. Wisconsin ranked 10th in 2021 and 17th in 2020.”
Wisconsin’s DUI and drinking problems are so ingrained in the state’s psyche that they hardly need explanations. Headlines like “33-year-old Wisconsin man arrested for 7th OWI after driving ‘erratically’ on Hwy 60” are far too common. Maps and studies naming Wisconsin as one of the “drunkest cities in America” are equally rampant.
As for Milwaukee, the city recently unveiled a host of so-called “reckless driving mitigation projects.” Traffic-calming poles and bump-outs, lane reductions, traffic circles, and other infrastructure improvements have been, or will soon be rolled out. The citywide projects, part of an overall “Vision Zero” approach to traffic problems, are being funded in part through a federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant.
Since the study naming Wisconsin as the fourth-worst driving state comes from an insurance site, insurance also figures into it. “It can get very expensive when you talk about these dangerous driving incidents,” a QuoteWizard research analyst told TMJ 4. “We found that it is going to vastly increase your car insurance premium. So if you get a speeding ticket, your insurance is likely to go up by 26 percent for the next three years. If you get in an accident, it could go up between 25 and 75 percent, and if you get a DUI, that could cost you in some states as much as $10,000 and extra premiums.”
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