It’s a ritual that accompanies turning the December page to January. Assessments of the past 12 months include the biggest news stories of the year, the best movies, the most memorable songs and so on.
We read an interesting list that looked back at 2017 to determine which states had the worst drivers. Good news: Texas does not rank at the top. Bad news: We’re not far from the worst; Texas is at number four, according to a car insurance website that analyzed traffic accident data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The NHTSA data was then used to rank states in five categories:
- Fatality rate: the number of traffic fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles.
- Drunk driving: the number of fatal car accidents involving a drunken driver.
- Failure to obey: traffic fatalities attributed to failure to use seatbelts (also includes people who drive without a license or ignore traffic safety devices).
- Speed: the number of traffic deaths involving speeding.
- Careless driving: the number of pedestrians and bicyclists killed by vehicles per 100,000 residents
The state with the worst drivers: Montana, followed by Arizona, Louisiana and Texas.
The article at carinsurancecomparison.com states that Texas has ranked in the top five of its Worst Drivers reports each year. However, we did at least drop down a few spots from last year’s top ranking.
According to the study, the factor that keeps us so high on such an unfortunate list is drunk driving. We rank fifth in the drunk driving category and 10th in careless driving. We fare slightly better in the fatality rate (11th), failure to obey (18th) and speeding (20th). When the numbers are added up, the Lone Star State finishes as the state with the fourth worst drivers in the nation.
One way for injury victims to help make our roads safer is to hold reckless drivers accountable for the damage they do. To learn more about your legal options, speak with an attorney experienced in personal injury and wrongful death litigation.
