Where are the worst drivers, best restaurants in the D.C. area? The poll data are in.

As for having the worst drivers, the ballot finds about half of Maryland suburbanites blame D.C. Greater than 4 in 10 Northern Virginians saddle Maryland with that distinction. And District residents are strikingly nonpartisan, spreading the blame nearly evenly throughout the area.

Ferreting out proof for these positions generally is a troublesome activity, as dangerous driving is fed by uncourteousness and awful decision-making. However the maddening and infrequently hazardous outcomes, transportation consultants say, are additionally formed by how crowded and difficult site visitors circumstances are specifically locations. Components reminiscent of harmful highway designs that encourage rushing or different recklessness additionally play a job.

One indicator is crash totals, however every a part of the area measures considerably various factors, complicating comparisons.

District officers tallied greater than 21,000 crashes of all types in 2021, from fender benders to probably the most catastrophic collisions. Northern Virginia, with nearly 4 occasions D.C.’s inhabitants, had about 23,000 crashes. However Virginia officers stated police reviews are solely required when property harm is a minimum of $1,500. Crashes in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties totaled 31,000, however state officers stated regulation enforcement usually solely completes a full report if a automobile is towed. And, after all, crashes in a single place are sometimes brought on by a driver from elsewhere.

In follow-up interviews, ballot takers cited the compelling, if incomplete, proof from their very own commutes and neighborhood travels.

Weighing in: Ricardo Dillon of Silver Spring, a Jamaican immigrant, dwelling remodeler and father of three (with a new child son anticipated inside days.)

“Each time I am going to Washington, D.C., folks attempt to hit my automobiles, man. It’s at all times site visitors, it’s at all times congested … Individuals name me into D.C. — I at all times say, man, I cost them a bit bit larger, as a result of no parking, dangerous driving … a man ran at the back of my automobile, hit me within the again. After which in 2013, I obtained into an accident on sixteenth Avenue, some man came to visit from the bus lane and simply hit me within the aspect. Perhaps I’m simply unlucky. However I didn’t ever have an accident in Maryland and other people hit me in D.C.”