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A Look At Where The Worst Drivers In America Are State By State
In America, some states have a lot more car accidents than others. This holds true even when taking into account different population numbers. There are many reasons for this including weather and some states just having more aggressive drivers. In this article, we'll look at the average number of car accidents per state.
Where the worst and best drivers in America live
This article from 2018 ranks the states in regards to where the worst drivers in the United States live. They used data from the United States Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to compile this list.
The states were ranked according to five criteria. these were speeding, drunk driving, the fatality rate per 100 million miles driven, careless driving, and failure to obey traffic laws.
The best state for car accidents was Iowa. The drivers in this state were ranked among the best across the board. Minnesota is the second best state when it comes to drivers. They did well in most categories but it was the rate of drunk driving that pushed them to second place.
The second worst drivers in the nation are in Arizona. The stat that stands out is that 182 pedestrians and bicyclists were killed by drivers in 2015. Montana, though, has the worst drivers in the United States. They are the worst when it comes to obeying traffic laws and second-worst for fatalities. They didn't do well in the other categories, either.
Major causes of accidents
When it comes to car accidents there are a number of reasons why they occur, as this article details. The age of drivers is a big factor, especially in Florida where a lot of retirees live. Many accidents are the result of elderly drivers continuing to operate cars when they really shouldn't be doing so anymore.
In all other states, it is teenage drivers that cause a high rate of accidents. People's brains aren't fully formed until about age 25 so younger people operate cars without being fully capable of doing so. They make rash decisions and can act impulsively which lead to accidents.
Another big factor is careless and distracted driving. Government statistics show that one out of three car accidents is caused by a driver not paying attention to the road around them. The worst culprit is using their smartphones while driving which is as bad as driving drunk.
The 10 most dangerous states to drive in
While the number of fatal car accidents has declined in recent years it still happens far too often. This article lists the 10 states with the most fatal accidents. They used numbers from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to compile this list.
The tenth worst state for fatalities per 100,000 in population is Louisiana. This state had 737 deaths in 2014. The next worse was South Dakota with 136 deaths. Alabama is 8th worst followed up by South Carolina and then Oklahoma. North Dakota is in fifth place while New Mexico is in fourth.
The third worst state for deaths on the road was Montana, a state that until recently didn't even have speed limits. Mississippi is in second place with 607 deaths in 2014. The worst state for deaths is Wyoming where 150 people died in 2014. Only 79% of people wear seatbelts in this state and many people died with blood alcohol levels above 0.08.
Where to find insurance quotes
As accidents are going to happen people are required to have liability insurance on their vehicles. This company provides cheap auto insurance online quotes through multiple insurance companies. They provide free insurance quotes and have been in business since 1997. On average they save people $400 annually on their car insurance and it only takes six minutes to fill out the information they need to save you money.
