Young drivers are less likely to exhibit risky behavior if given clear rules about what’s acceptable when they are behind the wheel.
New York topped this year’s list of best states for teenage drivers. Rankings in the top five for safety conditions, economic environment and driving laws, put it ahead of Oregon and Illinois. New York finished first last year as well.
The Empire State was also home to the second lowest premium increase for adding a teen driver to a policy and had the second fewest teen driver fatalities per teen population in the U.S.
WalletHub.com puts the list together each year and bases the results on 16 metrics that “collectively speak” to each state’s safety conditions, economic environment and driving laws. The data set ranges from the number of teen driver fatalities to the average cost of car repairs to the presence of impaired-driving laws.
The numbers when it comes to young, especially teenage, drivers are staggering. Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among people between the ages of 16 and 19, which is the same group with the highest risk of crashes.
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Although 15- to 24-year-olds make up only 14% of the population, they rack up nearly a third of all costs resulting from motor vehicle injuries, the website noted, adding “that’s not even counting the costs of auto maintenance, insurance premiums, possible traffic citations and other vehicular incidents — expenses that can pile up over time.”
Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among 16 to 19 year olds in the U.S.
So states with policies and programs in place to offset some of those things are better places for teens to get their driver’s licenses than others. The rest of the top 10 list after New York, included Oregon, Illinois, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Washington, Louisiana, Rhode Island and California.
(Click Here for more on why parents who set rules produce safer teen drivers.)
The bottom five? Aside from South Dakota at No. 50 was Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana and Nebraska. Other interesting facts from the survey, include:
- Wyoming has the highest number of teen driver fatalities per 100,000 teens, 24.02, which is 15 times higher than in Delaware, the state with the lowest, 1.63.
- California has the highest proportion of major roads that are in poor condition, 51%, which is seven times higher than in Florida, the state with the lowest, 7%.
- New Hampshire has the highest premium increase after adding a teen driver to a parent’s auto insurance policy, 114.9%, which is seven times higher than in Hawaii, the state with the lowest, 16.8%.
- Wyoming has the highest number of vehicle miles traveled per capita, 16,440, which is three times higher than in New York, the state with the lowest, 6,597.
- Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, Nebraska and South Dakota are the states that lack most of the optimal teen driver’s Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) provisions, each with two or fewer of the seven provisions.
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Summer is when most teenagers get their licenses. It’s also the time of year with the highest teen driving fatalities, averaging 220 per month for the three months of summer, according to the website. However, providing some rules for your new driver may go a long way toward making it a safer summer, such as keeping to the speed limits, not using phones for texting or calling while driving and limiting the number of passengers in the vehicle with a teen driver.
(Car crashes No. 1 killer of teenagers in U.S. Click Here for the story.)
“The biggest worry today – by far – is distraction, both by technology and by others in the car,” said Sean Brennan, associate professor and director of the Vehicle and Systems Safety Group in the Thomas D. Larson Transportation Institute at Penn State. “The second biggest risk is speeding and risky driving. Sadly, these behaviors are quite pervasive in society today – not just in teen drivers.”