The 11 most dangerous states for drivers

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 01/23/2014 at 09:00 • Filed to: None

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A new report on highway safety says more states have a "dangerous lack of basic safety laws" than have strong safety regulations.

Eleven states received a red rating, reflecting poor protections, while 10 received a green rating, according to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a coalition of business and safety groups. The remaining states got a yellow rating meaning they showed moderate adoption of optimal safety laws.

The report draws a direct line between regulation and lives saved. In 2012, for example, seat belts saved an estimated 12,174 lives of passengers aged five and older, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And use of seat belts rose in states that passed laws giving officers the ability to issue tickets for not wearing belts even if another offense hadn't first taken place, according to the report. Only 17 give officers that flexibility regardless of where an individual is sitting in the car. New Hampshire is the only state without a seat belt law.

The states were ranked based on adoption of the 15 safety laws considered optimal by the rating organization. The laws included those restricting driver text messaging; requiring booster seats for children or helmets for all motorcycle riders; and allowing officers to ticket individuals sitting either in the front or the back for not wearing a seat belt without another offense having first taken place. There were also seven regulations related to teen driving and another three related to impaired driving.

Illinois and Oregon led the top states by number of safety laws in place, with 12 each. South Dakota had the fewest safety laws in place. The two regulations there restrict nighttime driving among teens and prohibit open containers.

Two laws were far and away the least-adopted: Just eight states and D.C. have set 16 as the minimum age to get a learner's permit and only 11 have nighttime restrictions on teen driving.

The states that got the top ranking were: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington. (D.C. did as well.) The states with red ratings were Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

GhostZ > ttyymmnn 01/23/2014 at 09:04

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No seatbelts required except for driver, and children under 18, and the cops don't even enforce that.

DatASSun > ttyymmnn 01/23/2014 at 09:08

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Down here in Texas they enforce everything even the seat belt laws .. 500 bucks for evertime your caught without it on ..

CalzoneGolem > ttyymmnn 01/23/2014 at 09:19

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Seat belt laws are dumb, but not wearing your seat belt is dumber.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 01/23/2014 at 09:27

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Interesting that LA gets the grade it does with its stance on open containers - just has enough other regs to make up for it, I guess.

I think the safety belt reg/ non-secondary ticketing does show correlation, but it seems to vary exceedingly by state: I'd venture to say the public and enforcement attitudes toward seatbelts probably play as much or greater a role than whether it can be a primary offense, though *in aggregate* the primary offense ticketing seems to lead to improvement.

OTOH, making a laundry list of regulations less difficult to means test or accurately weigh and simply counting them as a final score is farce.

duurtlang > CalzoneGolem 01/23/2014 at 09:29

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Agreed, but only when we're talking about adults. I believe it should be illegal for minors to not wear a seat belt.

CalzoneGolem > duurtlang 01/23/2014 at 09:31

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It is unfortunate that this would have to be a law but the amount of people that wouldn't buckle their children if they didn't have to would be staggering. Actually I recall not wearing a seat belt a lot as a child.

Stupidru > ttyymmnn 01/23/2014 at 09:41

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The only state I'm confused about is New Hampshire. Are you guys too preoccupied with milking maple trees to put seat belts on?

I get it, Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska... there's nothing there so you feel like you don't need to wear a seatbelt, but you're texting your cow and all of the sudden you're dead in a ditch.

South east, you guys don't feel the need to wear a seatbelt because you're already sweating in your wife beater. Also, because Florida.

Arizona, sorry, but a lot of illegals down there and I've already had a friend killed by an illegal immigrant who ran a red light and was also not wearing a seatbelt.

Casper > ttyymmnn 01/23/2014 at 09:48

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Wow, this is a completely useless statistic set. They were ranked by completely subjective methods and referenced a chart that had no scientific basis or reference for statistical comparison.

There is nothing in this entire article that was scientific.

Brian Silvestro > Stupidru 01/23/2014 at 09:51

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"texting your cow"

Hilarious.

Bad Idea Hat > ttyymmnn 01/23/2014 at 09:52

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Well no shit.

CobraJoe > ttyymmnn 01/23/2014 at 10:07

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This was a stupid study.

It only looks at the laws on the books and the ability to enforce them, it doesn't look at the driving habits or driver or road conditions or road design or safety items involved.

For example: Nebraska (outside of Omaha), South Dakota and probably North Dakota (I haven't been up there) all have very low traffic, long and straight roads with good visibility, up to date roadside safety barriers and items on most state highways, and most importantly, courteous drivers. What I'm saying is that more traffic laws won't save any more lives if the drivers are actively being safe already.

nermal > Casper 01/23/2014 at 10:25

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Agreed. IDGAF what the "safety" laws are in each state.

Show my accidents, injuries, and fatalities per vehicle and per mile driven in each state. THEN overlay it with the laws, and try to find a correlation.

JEM > ttyymmnn 01/23/2014 at 11:09

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NH doesn't have seatbelt laws, helmet laws, or sales tax. And you can buy fireworks there. While not shocking to the rest of the country, it really does live up to it's "Live Free or Die" license plate motto, especially compared with the other much more puritanical New England states.

But there is no way in frozen pothole hell that RI is safer to drive in than NH. RI is a nightmare and apart from the Boston suburb bit of NH, it is a very nice, safe, courteous state to drive in.

Thomas Nourse > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/23/2014 at 11:18

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Hey now... Our open container laws are just as strict as any other states' - if that daquiri you just picked up in the drive-thru has the lid secured with tape and no straw inserted then it is considered packaged alcohol otherwise it is an open container. There's no getting around those strict regulations. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll now remove my tongue from its previous location - planted firmly in cheek.

bhardoin > Stupidru 01/23/2014 at 11:19

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My experience with illegal immigrants is that they're the best drivers on the planet - any traffic incident for them will result in being deported, so they are cautious as hell and very careful.

wkiernan > Bad Idea Hat 01/23/2014 at 11:49

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But our laws are fine, it's just the drivers that are a little off.

HammerheadFistpunch > ttyymmnn 01/23/2014 at 11:51

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I boggles the mind that there are people who still don't wear a seat belt. What, I bet you still wear sandals working on your car, or riding your motorcycle? how many times do you drop a tool on your foot before you don't do that again. Its just stupid not to take the laziest and easiest form of bodily protection. Stupid. Sorry to the small niche of hot rodders, but its still dumb. Its a cool dumb like not wearing a helmet on a bike, but still dumb.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Thomas Nourse 01/23/2014 at 12:11

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Considering the results of drinking often set in *after* drinking and not *early during*, I semi-wonder if normal open containers laws don't just make sure the guy is drunk *before* he gets in the car...

I also tend to have a perspective like the Germans that a beer with lunch doesn't count as drinking per se.

Bad Idea Hat > wkiernan 01/23/2014 at 12:42

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Yeah, but it seem like your government is encouraging heywaitaminute...

Thomas Nourse > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/23/2014 at 13:54

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I tend to be of the same opinion, but popular belief here seems to be that you're ok to drive as long you can walk out of the bar without (too much) help. Those beliefs are what motivate campaigns to lower BAC limits and punish those of us who know our own limits.

I was completely dumbfounded at the popular attitude towards drinking and driving here in Louisiana when I moved here. Our laws are just as tough as in any other state, but the prosecutors and judges don't seem to push very hard for convictions and tougher sentences. I know quite a few people who have been arrested multiple times for DUI and have plead out every single time.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > ttyymmnn 01/23/2014 at 14:44

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I've counted 12 green states, and not 10.