Test scores are in: Northeast still has dumbest drivers.
Why are so many ignorant drivers clustered in the northeast, while some of the smartest are in the northwest?
High population density, well-established public transit infrastructure, and a greater immigrant population all combine to ensure that a fairly high percentage of your fellow motorists learned to drive relatively recently.
That same population density contributes to an overcrowded, dilapidated and generally inadequate road system, which, along with cultural factors and the aforementioned number of new drivers, brings about reckless driving, moving violations, and road rage.
Then there are the astounding numbers of well-set assholes in Mercedes and BMWs, who careen heedlessly around in much the same way old-fashioned plutocrats used to swing their canes at the ankles of the proletariat to clear the way.
I’ll agree that populations including a significant number of immigrants could explain some of the misunderstandings, particularly “one out of five drivers did not know that pedestrians in a crosswalk have the right of way” - because in many other countries this rule works in a very different way.
It’s a shame the link to the test doesn’t work, though - I’m interested as to how I’d cope, given that I’ve never driven in the USA 
An additional factor would have to be the terrain and climate, both of which veer towards the extremities. Between the Rockies, the Sierra Nevadas, the Cascades, the harsh winters, and the perils of springtime snowmelts, the northeast has a way of awarding the most inattentive, irresponsible, and idiotic drivers their own “Darwin Awards,” if you catch my drift.
:smack: I meant the northwest, of course. Oh well, at least I still know my left from my right…
You could have saved yourself if you’d said that there are fewer bad drivers in the Northwest because they don’t tend to live very long…