Which States Have The Worst (Most Dangerous) Drivers?

While the holiday season is a time for joy, it is also a time of grief for many. That's because traffic accidents, many causing death, go up (because of higher travel and more alcohol use). So I thought this might be a good time to let you know about these statistics that I recently found. It is from carinsurancecomparison.com, and it uses statistics to rank all the states on how bad the drivers are in that state. Here is the methodology used to determine the scores and rankings:

The rankings for this study are based on statistics made available to the public by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Each state is ranked according to the following categories:

• Fatalities Rate per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled
• Failure to Obey (Percentage of Fatal Crashes that involved Traffic Signals, Not Wearing Seat Belts, 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 & Bicyclist Fatalities per 100,000 Population)

We translated all of this information into one Total Score, with the worst states receiving the lowest scores.

The chart above shows the 10 states with the worst (i.e., most dangerous) drivers. This is NOT something to be proud of. If you want to see how your state ranked in each category and scored overall, you can go to the link provided above.

More Proof That Legalizing Pot Was The Right Move

(This image is from thedenverchannel.com.)

The anti-marijuana legalization forces in Colorado did their best to convince Coloradans that legalizing marijuana in that state would be disastrous. They told them that crime would increase -- but we now know that wasn't true. As I have written before, all types of crime have decreased since the gentle herb went on sale in that state.

The other argument used was that legalizing marijuana would result in more traffic deaths because there would be more drivers under the influence of marijuana. Studies have shown that drivers are no more dangerous after smoking marijuana than drivers who have used no drug (and far safer than those drinking alcohol), but those studies are not widely known about -- so the marijuana haters were able to generate a certain amount of fear (but fortunately not enough to stop legalization).

Now there is evidence from the Colorado Department of Transportation that shows the fear there would be an increase in traffic fatalities was just as unfounded as the fear of an increase in crime. Note on the chart below (from the Washington Post) that traffic fatalities in 2014 (the green line) are not only lower than those for 2013, but also lower than the average of all years since 2002 (and they are falling).

Colorado citizens have not been endangered by the legalization of marijuana, either by an increase in crime or in traffic deaths, because both have decreased. And the state has been able to add millions of dollars in taxes to both state and local coffers. The people of Colorado made the right decision in legalizing marijuana -- and now it is time for other states to follow suit.

New Speed Limit For Texas ?

It looks like the Texas legislature is once again going to prove they have completely lost their minds. They have pushed a Voter ID bill which they say will prevent voter fraud (even though there is no evidence of that voter fraud in the state). And they are trying to pass a budget bill that will be disastrous for most Texans (except for the rich and the corporations). Now they have decided to take this lunacy to the state's traffic laws.

The Texas House has passed a bill that would raise the speed limit on many of the state's highways to 85 miles-per-hour. The bill goes to the Senate now, and it looks like it may have a good chance of passing that body too. Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), author of the bill, said, "They have high-speed roadways in Europe, and there could be some merit in having some of those highways in Texas."

That's sort of a surprise. When's the last time you heard a Republican say we should do something because it's done in Europe? Usually the Republicans are against anything the Europeans are doing.

Of course the insurance companies don't like the idea at all. They have visions of paying out a lot more money for the increased accidents that will happen. Jerry Johns, spokesman for Southwestern Insurance Information Systems, said, "Obviously, the two things that kill most people on our highways are speed and alcohol. Increasing it to 85, or even 75, will have a dramatic impact on the death and injury rate on those highways where it's implemented."

I believe Johns is right. I live in a part of Texas with long straight highways and a sparse population -- obviously just the kind of place pictured by the proponents of this bill. But I've also driven in Texas most of my life, and let me tell you, most Texans can't drive worth a darn. Our highways are already dangerous enough without raising the speed limit to 85.

Frankly, can you picture a scarier sight than a teenager barreling down the highway in daddy's SUV at 85 miles-per-hour while talking or texting on his/her cell phone. I shudder just thinking about it. And that's not to say the teenagers are any worse than most adults -- they aren't. This is just a bad idea and a bad bill.

A Bit Of Good News

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were fewer traffic deaths in 2007 than in any of the last 48 years. There were 37,313 traffic deaths last year. To find a year with fewer deaths, you have to go all the way back to 1961 when 36,285 deaths were recorded.

That's a pretty amazing figure for 2007, especially when you consider that there are currently over 100 million more people in the United States than there were in 1961. I'm sure part of the reason is that cars are safer today than they were in 1961 (thanks to Ralph Nader). But the NHTSA credits most of the lives saved to the widespread use of seat belts.

Fortunately, Texas is on the right side of this issue. There is a mandatory seat belt law here, and both the local and state police do a very good job of enforcing it. Because of this, over 90% of Texas drivers use their seat belts. Others with a better than 90% use rate are Michigan, Hawaii, Oregon, California, Maryland, Iowa, Puerto Rico, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana, Neveda, New Mexico, Illinois and the District of Columbia.

Texas has been on the wrong side of a lot of stats lately (teen pregnancies, dirty air and water, highest electric rates, school drop-out rates, etc.), so it feels good to see them on the right side of something. Mandatory seat belt laws are a good thing.

And kudos to the traffic cops who enforce those laws. They save lives every day.