Study ranks top 10 states for irresponsible drivers, Mississippi sits at the top of the list
A new study looks ranks states by the irresponsibility of their drivers, using National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data to create the list.
This week, financial tech company SmartAsset released its sixth annual listing of states with the most irresponsible drivers.
In order to compile the ranking, SmartAsset assessed the following four factors:
- Fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles driven. Data comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and is from 2020.
- Arrests for driving under the influence per 1,000 drivers. Data on DUI arrests comes from the FBI. Data on the number of drivers comes from the Department of Transportation. Data is from 2020.
- Percentage of drivers who are insured. Most recently available data comes from the Insurance Research Council, as reported by Forbes, and is from 2019.
- Google Trends on driving tickets. This is how often residents in each state Google “speeding ticket” and “traffic ticket.”
Check out the ranking below.
| Rank | State | Fatalities per 100 Million Miles Driven | DUIs per 1,000 drivers | Percentage of Uninsured Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | 1.90 | 2.64 | 29.4% |
| 2 | Tennessee | 1.59 | 3.70 | 23.7% |
| 3 | California | 1.28 | 3.55 | 16.6% |
| 4 | South Carolina | 1.97 | 2.84 | 10.9% |
| 5 | Arkansas | 1.88 | 2.29 | 19.3% |
| 6 | Missouri | 1.36 | 3.31 | 16.4% |
| 7 | Nevada | 1.26 | 4.63 | 10.4% |
| 8 | Kentucky | 1.68 | 4.17 | 13.9% |
| 9 | Arizona | 1.60 | 2.63 | 11.8% |
| 10 | Colorado (Tie) | 1.28 | 3.60 | 16.3% |