Worst Drivers By State

From CarInsuranceComparison.com

If you have spent any significant amount of time on the road, chances are that you have a strong opinion about where to find the worst drivers in the United States. Whether you’ve been personally affected by a dangerous driver or simply seen someone weaving in and out of traffic on the interstate, we all have a story we could share.

We’ve compiled the latest Worst Drivers statistics, and it’s time to ask once again, “Which states have the worst drivers?”.

Is your state home to the worst drivers in the United States? The statistics may be a surprise to you… or maybe they will confirm what you knew all along. The risk factors and rankings involved in this study could also shed some light on your car insurance premiums!

Keep in mind that these stats are focused on fatal crashes. The NHTSA has been collecting this kind of data since 1975, and traffic fatalities have decreased 67% since then. Progress hasn’t been instantaneous, but that is an amazing improvement!

Methodology

The rankings for this study are based on statistics made available to the public by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Click here for rankings table and click here to view interactive maps

Each state is ranked according to the following categories:

Fatalities Rate per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled
Failure to Obey (Percentage of Fatal Crashes that involved Traffic Signals, Not Wearing Seat Belts, and Driving with an Invalid Driver’s License)
Drunk Driving (Percentage of Fatal Crashes that Involved Alcohol)
Speeding (Percentage of Driving Fatalities that were Speed-Related)
Careless Driving (Pedestrian & Bicyclist Fatalities per 100,000 Population)

We translated all of this information into one Total Score, and the worst states received the lowest scores.

For example, the state with the worst rating for Careless Driving (highest percentage of Careless Driving-related fatal crashes), Florida, earned just 1 point in this category, and the state with the lowest percentage, North Dakota, received a score of 51 (the District of Columbia is included in these rankings). The lower the score, the worse the state’s driver ranking.

For a complete breakdown, along with the specific sources used for each scoring criteria, click here, or you can view the rankings table below.

Ten States with the Worst Drivers:

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#7 – Hawaii (tied with N Dakota)

Best Ranking Factor: Failure to Obey: 33rd

Worst Ranking Factor: Drunk Driving: 4th

Hawaii’s drivers did not heed last year’s advice to “slow down and pay attention to their surroundings,” and moved down one ranking to tie for the 7th worst state! This year, Hawaii landed in the top 5 for both drunk driving (4th) and speeding (5th).

Hawaii drivers, please be sure to slow down and call a designated driver to take you home if you have been drinking!

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