San Diego has earned an unwanted title after a new study found it has the highest car accident rate in California, and locals are hardly surprised. According to a LendingTree study reported by CBS 8, San Diego recorded 28.2 accidents per 1,000 drivers, enough to rank second nationally behind Raleigh, North Carolina, which recorded just over 29.
California hardly covered itself in glory elsewhere. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Long Beach and San Jose all joined San Diego in the national top 10.
But on Reddit, the reaction from San Diego residents was less about shock and more about recognition.
One local summed up the frustration in rather blunt terms: “Maybe try enforcing traffic laws? All they do is parking tickets.”
That comment attracted hundreds of upvotes, while others piled in with complaints about drivers ignoring stop signs, running red lights, speeding, blocking crosswalks and using phones behind the wheel.
Another commenter claimed busy intersections regularly see “2-4 cars still turning after the light has been red,” adding that they rarely see police positioned at those problem spots.
For residents who deal with the roads every day, the study appears to have confirmed something they already suspected.
Locals Say California’s Driving Problem Goes Beyond Bad Luck
CBS 8’s original report raised several possible explanations for San Diego’s accident numbers, including congestion, unfamiliar roads and the city’s large population of transplants.
Resident Alex Sahib told the station: “My theory is that San Diego has a lot of transplants and aren’t familiar with the roads here.”
Reddit users were not entirely convinced.
Some pointed instead to aggressive driving, poor lane discipline, distracted motorists and what they described as a culture of treating speed limits and traffic signals as optional.
One commenter wrote that drivers in San Diego seem to know only two speeds: “flooring the gas or stomping brakes.”
Another offered an even darker assessment, saying some motorists drive as though they are in a video game and can simply respawn after crashing at 90 mph.
Others complained of drivers drifting across lanes while looking at their phones, failing to check blind spots, double parking and blasting through stop signs.
The result is a grim mix: crowded roads, impatient drivers, and locals who increasingly believe enforcement is not keeping pace with the behavior they see every day. The LendingTree numbers cannot explain every crash or prove that enforcement is the central cause. But the reaction from San Diego drivers is difficult to miss.
Clearly, California’s latest bad-driving statistic does not feel like surprising news for San Diego locals. On the contrary, it feels like confirmation.
