In a recent report released by CarInsuranceComparison.com, Florida ranked fourth in a comparison of states with the worst drivers in the nation. The online insurance clearinghouse collected its information from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, the American Motorists Association and MADD.
The rankings included five key categories: moving violation tickets issued per state, traffic fatalities per million miles driven, drunk driving citations, careless driving offenses and tickets issued for failure to obey. Taking all five factors into account, the title of worst drivers in the U.S. went to Louisiana with 196 out of 250 points.
Florida Results
Florida faired somewhat better than Louisiana. While Florida did particularly poor among states in moving violation tickets and careless driving offenses, the sunshine state did rather well in the drunk driving category. Given the devastating consequences of drunk-driving accidents, Florida was fortunately among the top ten states with the fewest drunk-driving violations - coming in seventh in the nation.
Driving is a serious matter, and not taking it seriously can result in injuries and deaths. In the U.S., there are approximately 5.5 million car accidents each year. In 2009, car accidents resulted in more than 31,000 fatalities and 2.5 million injuries. Car accidents can also have a dramatic economic impact. Car accidents cost the country nearly $100 billion in medical care expenses and work production losses annually.
Equally interesting are the states' individual rankings. One of the findings gleaned from the report is that tickets do not appear to be much of a deterrent for bad driving. Florida, for instance, was the worst in the number of tickets issued while Montana was the best. Both states ranked among the top 15 worst drivers.
What does seem to be a good indicator is careless driving offenses. Careless driving made up five out of ten top-ranked states. Florida was among the states in both categories. Careless driving is a broad category encompassing a variety of activities, including distracted or inattentive driving. Distracted driving is one of the most common factors contributing to car accidents in the U.S. In 2009, distracted driving resulted in 5,474 fatalities and more than half a million injuries.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident as a result of distracted driving, contact an experienced attorney in your area today to be advised of your rights and options.
