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Fri. Oct 4th, 2024
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Florida’s teen driving safety ranking is low. These are the reasons

By Matthew. Jr
Florida’s teen driving safety ranking is low. These are the reasons

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Car accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers in the U.S., making young drivers the most expensive age group to insure when it comes to auto insurance and generating billions of dollars in medical expenses and lost work each year. year.

According to the CDC, “Accidents account for nearly half of all teen deaths. As a category of accidents, car death is the leading cause of death in teenagers, representing over a third of all deaths.”

And Florida isn’t the safest state for teens who are already driving. Personal finance company WalletHub recently released its 2024 list of the best and worst states for teen drivers, and Florida ranks in the bottom 50th percentile.

Here’s where Florida ranks on WalletHub’s list of the best and worst states for teen drivers, and why.

What age group are the riskiest drivers?

“The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among teens ages 16 to 19 than among any other age group,” the CDC website says. “Teenage drivers in this age group have a fatal crash rate nearly three times higher than drivers 20 and older per mile driven.”

Here’s the CDC’s list of teens who are at particularly high risk for car accidents:

  • Males: “The motor vehicle crash death rate for male drivers aged 16 to 19 was three times higher than the fatality rate for female drivers in the same age group in 2020.”
  • Teens driving with teen or young adult passengers: “The presence of teenage or young adult passengers increases the risk of unsupervised teenage drivers crashing. This risk increases with each additional adolescent or young adult passenger.”
  • Newly licensed teenagers: “The risk of accident is particularly high in the first months of the degree. For example, data indicate that the crash rate per mile driven is approximately 1.5 times higher for 16-year-old drivers than for 18-19-year-old drivers.”

Car insurance rates: What are the cheapest options for young drivers in Florida?

Where in the US do young drivers face the greatest and least risks?

To find the best and worst states for teen drivers, WalletHub compared all 50 states on more than 20 metrics in these three categories: safety, economic environment and driving laws.

According to the study, New York is the safest state for teen drivers due to its low number of fatal car accidents with teens in the car or behind the wheel (this is probably because most New York residents and teens don’t have to drive at all).

“New York is the best state for teen drivers, despite traffic congestion in its largest cities, largely because it has the second fewest teen driver deaths per capita,” the study says.

“Additionally, New York has the fourth lowest percentage of drivers using their phones while driving and the third lowest prevalence of poor turns.”

New York is also the state with the most driving schools per capita.

“Teens seem to be taking safety lessons to heart, as the state has the seventh-fewest teen DUI arrests per capita and the seventh-lowest share of teens texting while driving. Finally, New York has nearly all of the optimal driving laws recommended by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and has the seventh lowest auto insurance premiums in the nation.”

But in Florida, where driving is a necessity even in the state’s largest and busiest cities, the safety of teenage drivers is a different story.

Florida ranked 33rd overall on WalletHub’s list, ranking as the state with the sixth highest number of teen DUIs per 100,000 teens.

Do you have a teenage driver? Here’s the technology to keep them safe

Here’s WalletHub’s top 10 safest states for teen drivers:

  1. new york
  2. Oregon
  3. New Jersey
  4. Washington
  5. Massachusetts
  6. Connecticut
  7. Alaska
  8. Kentucky
  9. West Virginia
  10. California

Here’s WalletHub’s top 10 most dangerous states for teen drivers:

  1. mountain
  2. Missouri
  3. Wyoming
  4. Idaho
  5. North Dakota
  6. Mississippi
  7. Nebraska
  8. South Dakota
  9. Alabama
  10. Vermont

Why does Florida rank low in teen driver safety?

Not only does Florida rank in the top 10 states with the most DUIs among teen drivers per capita, but it also ranks low for the presence (or lack thereof) of occupant protection laws and the presence of driving laws impaired, according to the WalletHub study.

Here’s how Florida ranked in some of WalletHub’s metrics:

  • Overall ranking: 33rd place
  • 33 – Teen driver deaths per 100,000 teens
  • 6 – Teen DUI per 100,000 teens
  • 36 – Average cost of car repairs
  • 1 – Presence of distracted driving/texting while driving laws
  • 19 – Premium increase after adding teen driver to parent’s policy
  • 15 – Provision of teenage driver license program laws
  • 27 – Vehicle miles driven per capita
  • 29 – The presence of occupant protection laws
  • 15 – Road quality
  • 23 – Presence of impaired driving laws

By Matthew. Jr

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