How Do Massachusetts Drivers Stack Up?

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By Adam Swift (Patch staff)

If you’ve ever been stuck on the Mass. Turnpike or Route 495 moving nowhere fast or been cut off at one of the state’s numerous rotaries, you might think Massachusetts is one of the worst places in the country for drivers.

However, a recent study by bankrate.com puts Massachusetts closer to the top of the list of best places to drive, and not the worst, although it didn’t make it onto the top 10 list. Overall rankings put Massachusetts as the 20th best place for drivers in the United States.

The site recently released a list of the top 10 worst states and 10 best states for drivers.

Three New England states - New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine - did make the top 10 list.

The study looked at the number of fatal crashes, number of car thefts, car repair costs, gasoline spending, insurance premiums, and commute times using statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the FBI, CarMD, the Oil Price Information Service, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Bankrate analyzed the statistics and built a standardized ranking giving each category equal rate.

Massachusetts had the lowest number of fatal crashed per 100 million miles driven and was below the national average for car thefts.

However, Massachusetts drivers do have a longer average commute time than the national average and spend slightly more on gasoline.

Idaho was ranked the best state for drivers, and Louisiana the worst.

In general, bankrate stated, states with a large number of rural communities did better than other.