Buckle up for a bumpy ride. From Beantown to the Big Apple, AAA and the Travel Channel are scouring the country to find drivers capable of the most shameless driving infractions. At least that's the basic premise of the Travel Channel's new reality travel series, “America's Worst Driver,” for which AAA is the official safety partner.

The weekly show, which premiered on March 14, 2010, differs from other reality programming in that the contestants actually want to be eliminated from the competition. That's partially because no one wants public scrutiny or to admit to being an inept driver, much less presumably the most inept in a certain geographic area. It's also because each week's competition culminates in the dramatic torching of the driver unfortunate enough to be dubbed the local “worst.”

During the course of the series, bad drivers—or at least those designated as such by the nominating friends and family members—from eight major cities compete for the infamous crown. Each episode takes place in a different city, for which four participants are selected. The contestants must then maneuver a number of driving challenges scattered throughout the streets of their hometown.