Where Does Tampa Rank In The Worst Cities To Drive In

It doesn't matter where you live, people always think they have the worst drivers living in their city. Tampa, FL is no different. The Bay always gets a bad reputation for the worst drivers in America, but where do we actually rank in the cities around the country? Thanks to WalletHub, we now know where we stand.

WalletHub compared the 100 cities across 30 relevant metrics of driver-friendliness. They looked at criteria such as cost of ownership, maintenance, traffic, access to vehicles, and safety to come up with a weighted average to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank the sample of cities. The results for Tampa may surprise you.

Scottsdale, Arizona kicks off the Top 5 best cities to drive in with the the best-ranked infrastructure. Plano, Texas comes in at number 4 with the same rank for safety. Boise, Idaho and Raleigh, North Caroline take the bronze and the silver when it comes to the rankings, but the best-ranked city to drive in was Corpus Christi, Texas. Even though they were ranked one of the worst when it came to access to vehicles and maintenance, their top rankings in cost of ownership, traffic, and infrastructure earned them the top spot on the list.

The state of California had a strong showing when it came to the worst cities. Only Washington, DC, and Detroit, MI were the other cities to break the top 5. Los Angeles and San Francisco had some of their worst rankings when it came to virtually every category, but there was one place that ranked the worst of all. The worst city to drive in is the other bay, Oakland, California.

Surprisingly, Tampa made the list as one of the best cities to drive ranking at number 13. When it came to cost of ownership, traffic, infrastructure, and safety, we ranked right in the middle of the pack. What catapulted us into the top 15 was our top 3 ranking for access to vehicles and maintenance.

Do you think they got our ranking right?

This morning we randomly started talking about Florida driving superstitions what we do in the car. We quickly realized that we had no idea why we actually did all these things. The conversation started with Orlando was telling a story about how he drove into work and accidentally hit a possum. Well, the car in front of him actually hit the marsupial and he tried to swerve around it. While he tried not to hit the animal he mentioned that he lifted up his feet so he wouldn't feel the thump. He thought it was interesting that anytime that happens he automatically lifts up his feet in the car hoping to make the car lighter or hoping he won't hit it. That led us into a conversation about driving superstitions.

Rich then mentioned every time he goes over a railroad he always raises his pointer finger and touches the windshield. He had a theory that the railroad superstition might be a New York thing. After talking to several people we found out it's a common thing that has no true origin. Meredith then talked about driving by graveyards and always holding her breath. One thing we all had in common is not knowing why we do these things. Toyota put together a list of five different superstitions that are specific to driving in a car. Some people even talked about driving through a tunnel and needing to hold their breath during the entire time for good luck.

Below, we break down each superstition and tell you the back story and what will happen to you if you don't do them...

One superstition tells you to pick your feet up from the floor and pedals while you drive over railroad track. It could also be a bridge of some kind. If you don’t, you’ll never meet your true love and die young. Where this started we still have no idea.

Some people always touch the ceiling while driving through a yellow light which seems dangerous. It's a silent way of saying thank you to God for not being pulled over by a cop or getting into an accident. Almost like a little prayer.

We've definitely heard of this one before! Holding your breath as you drive by a graveyard. This is so you won't breathe in a bad spirit and become possessed.

This is to bring you good luck but no one really knows why? Although, it is fun to find money in your car.

Similar to driving past a graveyard, when you hold your breath as you drive through a tunnel, you can make a wish at the end. That's if you can last the length of the tunnel without breathing which is also dangerous.

Did you know that even NASCAR drivers profess driving superstitions? A lot of them refuse to drive green cars on the basis that they believe the color green is an omen of bad luck (stemming from the death of a race car driver in the 1920’s who was behind the wheel of a green car). Additionally, many of them ban unshelled peanuts from their garages and pits because they see them as unlucky. Why? Apparently before the first World War, a rash of car accidents happened and peanut shells were found in the vehicles.