Atlanta motorists have earned the dubious distinction of being named Georgia’s worst drivers in a new survey of truck operators nationwide, with Savannah and Columbus rounding out the top three offenders.
Why It Matters
For truckers hauling 80,000-pound rigs with massive blind spots and limited maneuverability, dangerous driving behaviors aren’t just annoying, they’re potentially deadly.
What’s Happening
A survey of truck drivers conducted by American River Wellness ranked Atlanta as the third-worst driving city nationally, with truckers citing a perfect storm of congestion, aggression, and a seemingly pathological inability to respect buffer zones.
Atlanta tops their list of frustrating cities thanks to endless congestion and aggressive driving habits, according to survey results, with truckers specifically calling out locals who treat highway gaps like invitations and blind spots like parking spaces.
Savannah (#35 nationally), Columbus (#61), Athens-Clarke (#88), and Augusta-Richmond (#162) completed Georgia’s hall of shame.
Between the Lines
The survey revealed that 36% of truckers consider last-second cut-ins their biggest pet peeve, while a whopping 70% identified texting and phone use as the most dangerous distraction.
More than a quarter of truckers report experiencing dangerous cut-ins multiple times daily, suggesting Georgia’s driving culture has normalized behaviors that professional drivers consider extraordinarily hazardous.
The Big Picture
While motorcyclists (30%) and sports car drivers (25%) were singled out as the worst offenders nationally, truckers emphasized that the real issue transcends vehicle type—it’s about impatience and spatial awareness.
“Truckers are trained to expect the unexpected, but they can’t bend the laws of physics,” notes Graham Sargent of American River Wellness. “When motorists crowd a semi, they’re not just making life harder for drivers—they’re putting everyone on the road at risk.”
The Sources
American River Wellness.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
