When you frequently drive in Australia, it’s common to encounter bad motorists who disregard the rules. However, drivers in this one state were crowned as the country’s worst.
According to a survey by location tracking app Life360 – which polled over 2000 Australian drivers – New South Wales was voted as the number-one place that has the worst drivers, with 34 per cent of respondents putting the state in first.
Survey participants cited three key issues with NSW drivers, with aggressive driving (51 per cent) ranking first, followed by habitual speeding (47 per cent) and “plain rudeness” (37 per cent).
Victoria wasn’t too far behind, with respondents ranking Victorian drivers as the second-worst motorists (22 per cent). Motorists residing in the Garden State were called out for ignoring road rules (38 per cent), tailgating (36 per cent) and distracted driving (35 per cent).
Aussies ranked Queensland as the state with the third-worst drivers (27 per cent), though when asked what makes Sunshine State drivers so bad, respondents said “they just have a hunch they’re the worst” but did not state any specific reasons.
| The states with the worst drivers, according to Life360 | |
| 1) New South Wales (34%) | |
| 2) Victoria (22%) | |
| 3) Queensland (17%) | |
| 4) Northern Territory (10%) | |
| 5) Western Australia (8%) | |
| 6) South Australia (4%) | |
| 7) Australian Capital Territory (3%) | |
| 8) Tasmania (2%) |
Interestingly, driver distrust also extended to the respondents’ family and friends, with 49 per cent stating, “they trust their partners as good drivers”.
But their confidence dwindled when asked if they trust their friends (39 per cent), parents (32 per cent) and children (22 per cent) behind the wheel.
When asked what general road behaviours grind their gears the most, 42 per cent of respondents said tailgating was the most annoying driving act they’ve encountered.
Failing to indicate ranked second (39 per cent), followed by speeding in third (31 per cent), and using your mobile phone while driving came in fourth (28 per cent).
Despite 82 per cent of participants believing they’re a good driver, the Life360 data revealed a different story.
According to the tracking app, between May and June this year, it recorded “more than 81,000 speeding incidents and over 547,000 cases of hard braking” across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Broadly speaking, it seems as though road rage is still somewhat common in Australia, with 25 per cent of drivers surveyed admitting “they get annoyed by other drivers most or all the time”.
In a media statement, Australian motoring legend and Bathurst winner Paul Morris said, “Life360's data – and Aussie opinions – make one thing clear: we've all got some work to do behind the wheel, because confidence is great but complacency, not so much”.
Ethan Cardinal graduated with a Journalism degree in 2020 from La Trobe University and has been working in the fashion industry as a freelance writer prior to joining Drive in 2023. Ethan greatly enjoys investigating and reporting on the cross sections between automotive, lifestyle and culture. Ethan relishes the opportunity to explore how deep cars are intertwined within different industries and how they could affect both casual readers and car enthusiasts.
