As 2015 comes to a close, Car Insurance Comparison has ranked the 50 United States - as well as the District of Colombia - from worst to best on driving ability.
The statistics used for the study came from numbers made available to the public by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
CarInsuranceComparison.com explains that the rankings are determined via the following categories, with the worst State receiving 1 point and the best receiving 51 points per category:
- Fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled
- Failure to obey (percentage of fatal crashes that involved traffic signals, not wearing seatbelts, 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 and bicyclist fatalities per 100,000 population)
A full breakdown of the point scores is available at Car Insurance Comparison, but here are the overall rankings from worst driving ability (No. 1) to best (No. 51) as well as their change in ranking from 2014:
*(t indicates tie; - indicates move down the scoreboard, which indicates that driving ability has improved compared to other states; + indicates move up the scoreboard, which indicates that driving ability has worsened compared to other states):
Worst: Montana (no change)
2t. New Mexico (+17)
2t. South Carolina (-1)
4. Texas (-1)
5. Louisiana (+1)
6. Arizona (+8)
7t. Hawaii (+1)
7t. North Dakota (-3)
9. Delaware (-4)
10. Mississippi (+13)
11. Nevada (-5)
12. Alabama (+6)
13t. Oklahoma (-4)
13t. West Virginia (+8)
15. South Dakota (+1)
16t. Missouri (-6)
16t. Pennsylvania (-1)
18. Colorado (-7)
19. Rhode Island (+15)
20t. Arkansas (+4)
20t. New Hampshire (+29)
22t. California (+4)
22t. Illinois (-2)
24t. North Carolina (-12)
24t. Tennessee (+7)
26t. Idaho (+14)
26t. Maine (-13)
28t. Connecticut (+19)
28t. New York (+3)
28t. Wisconsin (-6)
31. Kentucky (-4)
32. Florida (-8)
33. Indiana (+9)
34t. Kansas (+1)
34t. Maryland (-5)
36. Wyoming (+2)
37. District of Colombia (-9)
38. Georgia (-2)
39. Oregon (+7)
40. Alaska (+8)
41t. Massachusetts (-2)
41t. Michigan (+4)
43. Utah (no change)
44. Washington (state; no change)
45. New Jersey (-5)
46. Virginia (-10)
47. Nebraska (-17)
48. Iowa (+2)
49. Vermont (-32)
50. Ohio (-17)
Best: Minnesota (no change)
