25 States with the Worst Drivers
In this article, we will be taking a look at the 25 states with the worst drivers. To skip our detailed analysis, you can go directly to see the 5 states with the worst drivers.
Ever since motor vehicles became popular over a century ago, accidents related to motor vehicles have continued to exist as well. This is especially true for the United States, which has over 300 million vehicles, and is among the countries that produce the most cars in the world. It also ranks in the top 10 for cars per capita in the world, and the demand for vehicles continues to rise each year.
There are plenty of reasons why the U.S. is a lot more car-centric than Europe, which is equal if not better, in terms of being developed. While the mid-20th century saw Europe following America's footsteps in terms of adapting cities to facilitate cars, it later realized that car-centric cities were very detrimental to the environment and moved to promoting public transportation and alternative means of transport such as walking or cycling. This is why, in America, people used a car or small truck for 87% of their overall trips, as many cities don't have proper public transportation systems or even sidewalks to allow for easy walking, all of which spells trouble especially for the states with the worst drivers (see 15 Most Walkable Cities in the US).
Initially, there were very few safety features afforded to cars, which is why the initial fatality rates from car accidents very extremely high, with a peak reached in 1937 of 30.8 deaths per 100,000 people. Currently, the fatality rate is 14.3 per 100,000 people which is a massive improvement of 54% but still an understatement considering how car production per capita has increased significantly over the decades. A much more accurate assessment of improvement in terms of safety can be made by the fact that the motor-vehicle death rate was 18.65 deaths for every 100 million driven in 1920, which is now just 1.5 deaths per 100 million driven, an improvement of more than 90%. A lot of this can be attributed to some of the top safety features implemented by the biggest car companies by revenue which have greatly improved the probability of surviving a car crash.
True for everyone but particularly relevant for the states with the worst drivers is having car insurance, which is a legal requirement. While car insurance has existed in one form or the other for over a century, it only became a legal requirement in most states in the 1970s, and nowadays, the car insurance industry is huge contributor to the global insurance sector and provides a major chunk of revenue to some of the biggest insurance companies in the world. State Farm is the biggest car insurance company in the world whose premiums written exceed $46 billion annually, followed by The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR), Geico and The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL).
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However, despite car insurance being mandatory, the above companies have struggled a bit in an ever-changing industry. According to EY, "The auto insurance industry as we know it is being upended by rapid advances in vehicle data and technologies. According to an EY-Parthenon analysis, the growing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs), autonomous vehicles (AVs) and shared-mobility platforms, combined with a coming proliferation of telematics data on driver behaviors, will shrink the overall personal line (PL) insurance market 31% by 2035. Those forces, along with changing customer expectations, will alter the way auto insurance is distributed, priced, underwritten and experienced by customers, threatening the profitability of incumbent carriers’ business models. They also will open the door to competition from noncarriers, including auto OEMs, eager to leverage vehicle telematics data and their access to car-buying customers to capture new revenue streams."
The issue is, many auto carriers, regardless of whether they operate in the states with the worst drivers or not, are not prepared for this change and don't have the ability to consider EV and AV based risk, which could result in potential issues as the auto insurance industry continues to evolve even as the global vehicle industry continues to change dynamically. Further, while the premiums currently underwritten for electric vehicles are quite high due to repairs being costly and lack of expert knowledge, as the electric vehicle market share continues to grow, such premiums will be lower. Additionally, accidents are expected to decrease, even in the states with the worst drivers, as innovation in safety features continues to grow, with the expectation that by 2035, accident rates are expected to fall by 2%.
Another trend which could end up having a huge impact on the auto insurance industry is the fact that Gen Z prefers to share vehicles rather than own outright and as ridesharing increases, the number of miles driven will correspondingly fall which in turn will compress the auto carrier sector. Some auto insurance companies are already feeling this impact with The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL) stating in its Q4 2022 earnings call transcript "The most important driver of near-term shareholder value will be successfully executing our comprehensive plan to improve auto profitability. That includes broadly raising auto insurance rates, reducing expenses including temporary moves such as less advertising and permanent reductions including digitizing and outsourcing work and lowering distribution costs. Underwriting restrictions have been implemented to reduce new business volume until profitability is acceptable. Claims operating processes are also being modified to manage our loss costs. This plan is being implemented, but earned premiums from auto insurance rates have not increased enough to offset higher loss costs. And while the number one priority is to improve auto insurance margins, implementation of the transformative growth strategies make great progress in 2022, and we validated that this will drive personal Property-Liability market share growth."
Methodology
To determine the states with the worst drivers, we considered three statistics; fatalities from accidents as a result of drunk driving per 100,000 people, fatalities from accidents as a result of distracted driver per 100,000 people, and fatalities from accidents per capita, with the first two metrics being taken from Forbes and the last metric from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of commonalities between the states with the worst drivers and the states with the most aggressive drivers, with four states out of the top 5 most aggressive driver states also making our list.
25. Indiana
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 9.7
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 0.74
Accident fatalities per capita: 13.7
Rob Duckworth, the Director of Traffic Safety at the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute said "Indiana could reduce traffic fatalities by 40% if Indiana drivers would ease up on the accelerators and wear seat belts”, and that one quote fully explains why Indiana kicks off our list.
24. Illinois
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 8.15
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.68
Accident fatalities per capita: 10.5
Illinois has one of the highest rates of any state in terms of accidents per capita, with busy loads and heavy traffic resulting in more accidents. Further, Illinois doesn't have a very good transportation system and hence, a high level of vehicles per capita, which in turn leads to higher accidents per capita.
23. Colorado
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 8.78
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.12
Accident fatalities per capita: 11.9
Colorado has some of the most dangerous roads in the country, with roads winding up and down mountains, often times with no guardrails or any protection. Inclement weather is also a major factor and hence, higher driving skill is needed to navigate the roads of Colorado which often results in accidents.
22. Virginia
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 9.1
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.47
Accident fatalities per capita: 11.2
Virginia saw traffic fatalities increase by 33% as compared to the previous year with a high number of accidents on the highway.
21. West Virginia
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 11.82
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 0.83
Accident fatalities per capita: 15.7
Many drivers in the state of West Virginia fail to properly obey traffic laws, which can often result in major accidents.
20. Oregon
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 11.86
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 0.94
Accident fatalities per capita: 14.1
While there isn't one correct answer, some believe that Oregon drivers drive more slowly than they need to because the weather can be unpredictable, though that has not prevented the state from having really high fatal accident rates.
19. Kansas
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 7.86
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 4.46
Accident fatalities per capita: 14.4
Kansas is the state with the second-most distracted driving fatalities per 100,000 people, with high aggressiveness one of the reasons behind the higher number of accidents.
18. North Carolina
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 11.26
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.27
Accident fatalities per capita: 15.7
North Carolina is a state home to people from various different states and even nationalities. When everyone implements a different driving culture, that can lead to a lack of understanding or cohesion, leading to higher accidents.
17. Arizona
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 10.85
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.31
Accident fatalities per capita: 16.2
According to Reddit anecdotes, some of the reasons why Arkansas ranks among the worst states to drive in include not using blinkers at the right time, driving while using their phones and unable to merge properly on highways.
16. North Dakota
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 12.47
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.32
Accident fatalities per capita: 13
North Dakota ranks among the states with the worst drivers despite having among the smallest populations of any state, mainly because of driving while impaired. Rash driving in the state is another major contributor.
15. Mississippi
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 16.28
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 0.5
Accident fatalities per capita: 26.2
Mississippi has one of the highest instances of drunk driving facilities than any other state in the U.S. which means that if drivers stop driving under the influence, the state could easily drop off this list of states with the worst drivers.
14. Idaho
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 9.71
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.94
Accident fatalities per capita: 14.2
Even though Idaho's population is relatively low, and you'd think that a low population would result in fewer deaths but Idaho bucks expectations and one of the reasons is failure to properly merge on the highway, leading to a large number of accidents.
13. Florida
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 11.03
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.58
Accident fatalities per capita: 17.1
Florida has a high percentage of older people, which means a higher percentage of older drivers. Older drivers have slower reflexes and hence, are less likely to be able to avoid accidents. Add to this that Florida has some of the most aggressive drivers in the world, and you have a state with some of the worst drivers in the world.
12. Arkansas
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 14.21
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 0.82
Accident fatalities per capita: 22.9
Most drivers in Arkansas learn driving in rural states where there is much more open space and less traffic to be worried about, thus minimizing risks of accidents even when driving rashly. Applying those ideas to highways or cities with heavy traffic is a recipe for disaster.
11. Tennessee
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 12.35
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.28
Accident fatalities per capita: 19
Memphis is one of the worst cities to drive in America and many believe that lack of understanding of highway rules and lack of following traffic rules all contribute to a higher number of accidents.
10. Alabama
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 12.87
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.23
Accident fatalities per capita: 19.5
Alabama does poorly in all metrics but still better relative to many other states, thus allowing to to place safely in the middle of our list of states with the worst drivers.
9. Kentucky
Accident fatalities per capita: 10.59
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 3.37
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 17.9
Over 13% of drivers in Kentucky aren't insured, which is a pretty high number even if it doesn't sound as bad compared to some other states. Meanwhile, Louisville and Lexington are the worst cities to drive in the state.
8. Missouri
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 12.94
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.68
Accident fatalities per capita: 16.5
Missouri is infamous for being home to plenty of drivers who have DUIs, high accident rates and don't even have insurance, which as we discussed in the intro, is a mandatory legal requirement, and hence, it's unsurprising that it ranks among the states with the worst drivers.
7. Texas
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 17.24
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 1.92
Accident fatalities per capita: 15.2
The Lone Star state performs poorly in every single metric we considered, with drunk driving fatalities ranking particularly high in the state. Meanwhile, distracted driving is also pretty high in the state with the drivers also ranking high in aggressiveness.
6. Oklahoma
Accident fatalities per capita: 13.02
Drunk driver deaths per 100,000: 2.02
Distracted driver deaths per 100,000: 19.1
Oklahoma has a high number of accidents both because of drunk driving and distracted driving, with one of the primary reasons being the state ranking poorly among failure to obey traffic laws, including seat belt laws and traffic signals.
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Disclosure: None. 25 states with the worst drivers is originally published on Insider Monkey.