The Most Dangerous States for Driving (2020)

Click here to see the 10 States with the Most Dangerous Drivers report for 2021.

Driving home for the holidays may look different in 2020 due to the pandemic, but an influx of traffic between Thanksgiving and the New Year will still happen.

Believe it or not, the holiday season is upon us again. Between now and the New Year, millions of Americans are projected to drive over 50 miles to meet up with loved ones. Despite the fact that Americans are advised to keep their holiday travel to a minimum, many will still hit the roads this season: the holidays may be the first time since the pandemic began that many Americans will be traveling to see family and friends, according to travel experts.

Compared to past years, a greater proportion of holiday travel will be made up of driving this year, given that most Americans have been avoiding public transportation throughout the pandemic. Rather than taking trains, planes, or buses, most will opt to drive instead. In fact, when it comes to holiday travel this year, plane travel is projected to fall by over 50 percent compared to 2019, while car travel is projected to fall less than 5 percent, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). While AAA has not yet released travel predictions for the 2020 Christmas season, Insurify projects that 92-100 million drivers will be on the roads for Christmas, compared to 104.8 million last year, based on AAA’s Thanksgiving predictions of 47.8 million drivers, compared to 49.9 million drivers in 2019.

As always, it’s in drivers’ best interest to be aware of the risks along their journey. While bad drivers can be found anywhere, some states have a greater share of law-breaking car owners than others. To find the states with the worst offenders, the data science team at Insurify turned to their database. This holiday season, drivers should be sure to keep their eyes peeled for these risky motorists in America’s most dangerous driving states, whether traveling into or out of them.

Methodology

To determine the most dangerous states for holiday driving this year, the data science and research team at Insurify, an auto insurance comparison platform, referred to their database of over 2.5 million car insurance applications. In order to apply for car insurance, car owners must disclose their driving record, which includes any moving violations. For each state, Insurify’s data science team calculated the proportion of drivers with one or more of the following violations on their record: DUIs, speeding tickets, and at-fault accidents. The states with the highest share of these violations were identified as the most dangerous states to drive in.

10 States with the Most Dangerous Drivers

10. Colorado

• Drivers with all driving incidents: 27.66%

• Drivers with a speeding ticket: 13.10%

• Drivers with an at-fault accident: 11.95%

• Drivers with a DUI violation: 3.14%

9. Wyoming

• Drivers with all driving incidents: 28.07%

• Drivers with a speeding ticket: 13.93%

• Drivers with an at-fault accident: 11.03%

• Drivers with a DUI violation: 4.74%

8. Maryland

• Drivers with all driving incidents: 28.49%

• Drivers with a speeding ticket: 10.01%

• Drivers with an at-fault accident: 14.93%

• Drivers with a DUI violation: 1.25%

7. Maine

• Drivers with all driving incidents: 29.33%

• Drivers with a speeding ticket: 10.85%

• Drivers with an at-fault accident: 14.29%

• Drivers with a DUI violation: 2.26%

6. Iowa

• Drivers with all driving incidents: 29.75%

• Drivers with a speeding ticket: 15.70%

• Drivers with an at-fault accident: 11.93%

• Drivers with a DUI violation: 3.35%

5. Virginia

• Drivers with all driving incidents: 29.78%

• Drivers with a speeding ticket: 15.98%

• Drivers with an at-fault accident: 12.28%

• Drivers with a DUI violation: 1.88%

4. Nebraska

• Drivers with all driving incidents: 29.93%

• Drivers with a speeding ticket: 13.96%

• Drivers with an at-fault accident: 13.56

• Drivers with a DUI violation: 3.57%

3. South Carolina

• Drivers with all driving incidents: 29.99%

• Drivers with a speeding ticket: 15.64%

• Drivers with an at-fault accident: 14.17%

• Drivers with a DUI violation: 1.08%

2. Wisconsin

• Drivers with all driving incidents: 30.29%

• Drivers with a speeding ticket: 14.83%

• Drivers with an at-fault accident: 11.58%

• Drivers with a DUI violation: 3.81%

1. Ohio

• Drivers with all driving incidents: 30.35%

• Drivers with a speeding ticket: 16.10%

• Drivers with an at-fault accident: 13.37%

• Drivers with a DUI violation: 2.72%