“Give it some welly” is a British slang phrase dating from the 1970s. It refers to “Wellies” – an abbreviation for Wellington boots [rubber boots, named after the First Duke of Wellington]. The phrase is often used in car racing where it means to press down hard on the accelerator. Give it some Welly, mate! - Source: World Wide Words [1]
A 2017 study by a group called Drive Human found Wisconsin drivers to be among the worst in the country. [2] Wisconsin scored a D- and ranked as number 46, just ahead of Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina and New York. Our neighboring states fared better, with Michigan ranked at number 15, Minnesota at 23, Illinois at 31 and Iowa at 41.
According to the study, Wisconsin drivers exhibit various dangerous and discourteous behaviors, including aggressive responses to people driving slowly (C-), failure to allow cars to merge (F), speeding up when someone is trying to pass (D) and stealing parking spots (F). [3]
The state summary reads,
“Hold on to your parking spots! Wisconsin drivers are most likely to steal it. They are the second least likely to let someone merge in front of them, and they will not be nice to those slow drivers.” [4]
A 2026 study by a consortium of insurance companies (based on National Highway Traffic Safety Association data) paints a somewhat better picture, with Wisconsin ranked number 22 in the nation, with 1 being the worst (tied: Texas and New Mexico) and 50 being the best (Minnesota). [5] Like other midwestern states, according to the study Wisconsin’s main problem is speeding.
This finding relates to an earlier post – Oddsconsin 77 – where I demonstrated that the amount of time you save by driving fast drops off rapidly as your speed increases. [6]
“For example, on a 30-mile trip, driving 60 mph rather than 50 mph will save you 6.0 minutes. But adding another 10 mph to get to 70 mph will only save you an additional 4.29 minutes. Cranking it up to 80 mph will only net you an additional 3.21 minutes. The incremental time savings continue to taper off the faster you go.”
Oddsconsin 77 elicited an email from one reader, Dr. William C. Rose, Associate Professor Emeritus in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Delaware. Dr. Rose taught anatomy, physiology and biomechanics and has a bachelors in Physics from Harvard and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins. In his email, he corroborated my findings using calculus (As he points out, “computing the effects of small changes is one of the things calculus was invented to do.”) and concluded that the “inverse square law is apparent: if the initial velocity is twice as fast, the time improvement is one quarter as much.”
Bill’s solution is available here for those who want the details.
Given Wisconsin’s poor grades for driving, and especially the problem of speeding, the fact that driving fast has diminishing time-saving benefits should probably be more widely understood. But it turns out that others are also trying to get that message out. Recently, Mike (a friend from work) forwarded me an Instagram reel [7] that supports what I said in Oddsconsin 77.
The presenter gives the following scenario.
“You realize you’re going to be five minutes late for an appointment, so you welly it [translation: you give it some welly] and after driving at an insanely fast and dangerous speed for about eight minutes, you suddenly realize your arrival time has only improved by one minute.”
His point is that while speeding doesn’t save you much time, it certainly does increase the chance of a high-speed accident.
Aside from speeding, what are some other Wisconsin driving habits that are dangerous or maybe just annoying? Mike and I discussed this by text.
Mike: “Camping in the fast lane. Speed up!”
Me: “Maybe they’re just trying to help people avoid a speeding ticket.”
Mike: “Vigilante do-gooders in the left lane! Just get out of the way! I also don’t like it when people won’t zipper-merge. Use both lanes and merge when it makes sense, rather than using just one lane!”
Me: “What about tailgating?”
Mike: “Either pass me or give me some space. Driving right on my tail isn’t going to buy you anything but my exhaust in your lungs!”
And so on. Mike has strong opinions about driving.
What are some other dangerous driving habits of Wisconsinites? Passing on the right? Driving while texting? Road rage? There’s a whole chapter in state statutes listing the rules of the road, from how to deal with funeral processions or frightened animals, to blind pedestrians on the highway and whistle signals used by police to direct traffic. [8]
Maybe, with some effort, we can raise our state driving rankings a bit. Before AI and autonomous vehicles completely destroy the joy of driving, you could enjoy travelling at a bit slower space, following the back roads and taking in the state’s many sights.
Sources
[1] World Wide Words, Give it some welly. www.worldwidewords.org/qa-giv2.html
[2] Drive Human, How would it look if you behaved the way you drove? https://www.kars4kids.org/drive-human
[3] Drive Human, Full Survey Research. https://www.kars4kids.org/drive-human/research.php
[4] Drive Human, The State of Driving Today. https://www.kars4kids.org/drive-human/#mapSection
[5] Car Insurance Comparison, 10 State with the Worst Drivers. https://www.carinsurancecomparison.com/which-states-have-the-worst-drivers/
[6] H. Veregin, On the Road Again (Oddsconsin 77). https://howard-veregin.com/blog/oddsconsin-77-on-the-road-again
[7] https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaP4kyFp-hZ/?stkn=azNhMnY4OHJ1NXQ0
[8] Wisconsin Legislature, Wisconsin State Statutes, Chapter 346, Rules of the Road. https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/346