BG drivers Ohio’s worst? Not so fast, says city’s police chief

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Falcon Media Staff

A recent report ranked Bowling Green as the city with the worst drivers in Ohio but the city’s police chief disagrees.

Andrew Kish, Falcon Media Reporter

A recent report ranked Bowling Green as the city with the worst drivers in Ohio but the city’s police chief disagrees.

QuoteWizard released the report late last month, including data about the cities with the best and worst drivers in the state.

“Ohio residents aren’t just bad drivers—they’re getting worse over time,” the report said. “In 2021, drivers [in Ohio] ranked 17th-worst, making it the state with the biggest decline in quality drivers.”

The report also detailed factors used to determine the rankings including speeding tickets, accidents and DUIs.

However, Bowling Green’s police chief said a high rate of recorded incidents says more about his department than it does about the quality of the city’s drivers.

“I will say that high rates of traffic citations, speeding tickets and DUI arrests prove more to the point that we are a proactive agency and actually enforce the law,” said Bowling Green police chief Tony Hetrick in an email statement. “Enforcement has been proven to reduce crash numbers and crash severity.”

QuoteWizard found drivers less than 20 years old to be more dangerous than any other age group, followed by drivers aged 20-29 years old. However, drivers older than 80 years old accounted for the safest on the road across the state.

While college students populate Bowling Green for several months every year, Hetrick said his department doesn’t track if they encounter a student on a traffic stop.

“We don’t track who is and who is not a college student,” Hetrick said. “We focus our attention on violator behavior and locations where hazardous traffic violations are taking place.”

Hetrick also said he believes if you look at the department statistics, Bowling Green is a safe community for drivers.

According to quarterly data provided by the department 479 total crash incidents occurred between April 2022 to March 2023.

The QuoteWizard report analyzed more than 100,000 car insurance quotes to determine the state’s best and worst drivers by city. Drivers were evaluated by the number of citations received in each location.

Hetrick offered several tips for drivers to remain safe.

“Some things others can do to make the roads safer are to use a designated driver or don’t drink if you’re going to drive, slow down, put your phone down, be aware of your surroundings and drive defensively,” said Hetrick.

To view the complete QuoteWizard report, visit the company’s website.