The worst countries to drive in

South African drivers are accustomed to navigating poor road conditions, inadequate traffic management, and generally lower safety standards on the country’s roads.

However, while conditions are bad, South Africa isn’t the worst country to drive in, ranking only fourth in the listing.

This is according to the World’s Best Drivers Index 2025 report, which was compiled by the UK-based  Compare the Market, which is owned by BGL Group.

The index was compiled based on data-led analysis of road safety, traffic conditions, and driving environments across 56 global locations.

This data was ordered through a consistent set of measurable factors to produce a fair representation of where drivers are most likely to have a safe and secure driving experience or not.

These factors include:

• Road deaths per 100,000 people
• Legal Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limit
• Average speed limits across highways and rural and urban roads in kilometres per hour
• Quality of roads, measured on a scale of one to seven
• Traffic index score, higher scores indicate greater congestion and inefficiency in traffic management

These five factors are then used to create an average score out of 100 that is used to rank countries by how pleasant or unpleasant they are to drive in.

South Africa had a total score of 48.45, positioning it as the fourth-worst-performing country in the index.

This poor score was chiefly driven by the road deaths per 100,000 people and the traffic score measurements.

South Africa had an average of 17.9 deaths per 100,000 people, and its traffic score was 186.1 – the second-highest score among the top five worst countries in the index.

These results highlight the poor management and general lack of safety on South Africa’s roads.

South Africa also had the highest average speed limit at 90km/h of the top five worst countries in the index, which likely contributes to the poor traffic score and higher numbers of fatalities.

Notably, South Africa’s road quality score was 4.53, which is on the higher end compared to the other countries with the worst road quality.

Given the abundance of potholes and other hazards, this indicates that the countries that scored lower must have especially severe road conditions.

Other countries

The worst country to drive in, according to the index, is Thailand, which scored an overall 43.83, largely due to its generally poor performance across all five metrics.

It had the second-highest number of deaths per 100,000 people, at 30.7, the second-worst road quality score, at 3.89, and only the fourth-worst traffic score, at 168.5.

This generally poor performance secured its top position, while others in the top five had greater outliers in certain measurements.

The second place belongs to Argentina, which had the worst road quality score at 3.47 and the third highest traffic score at 175.9.

Indonesia came in third, despite having the highest road quality at 5.20 among the top five, and the lowest deaths per 100,000 and average speed limit at 10.6 km/h and 77.5 km/h, respectively.

This is due to being the only country in the top five and even the top ten to have no legal limit on alcohol, and also having the worst traffic score at 193.7.

Almost every other country in the top five and top ten has a 0.05 BAC rating or a Zero Tolerance stance, which includes South Africa, which has the former.

Vietnam was the fifth-worst performer, with the best traffic score at 108.4, and a decent overall performance in the other measurements, apart from deaths per 100,000.

This is because Vietnam’s deaths per 100,000 score was 38,5, which dragged the country down on the list.

You can find a table of the top ten worst countries to drive in below.