Getting pulled over by the police for a speeding ticket is certainly a pain that can happen to almost anyone. It’s easy to forget to check the speedometer and ensure you’re going within the speed limit. By then, a police officer’s already knocking on your car window. Going above the speed limit can also be a difficult habit to break for some, causing them to get more speeding tickets than others.

Indeed, this issue of bad driving habits can extend beyond a single person, as some states have the highest percentage of drivers with speeding tickets. Ohio is one of these states, and this article will explore recent speeding ticket data.

How the data was determined

Data suggests that Ohio has the highest percentage of drivers with speeding tickets in the U.S., according to Insurify. To calculate this percentage, it used car insurance applications submitted to its platform. These documents included details of the individuals’ respective driving histories and what state they lived in. In total, there were 2.9 million applications submitted across the nation.

The number of drivers who received speeding tickets was divided by the number of drivers in that state. This figure determined how the states were ranked. The data also recorded the percentage of drivers who received a failure to stop violation, although this had no bearing on the ranking.

This data has some limitations, as only Insurify users were included. However, the large sample size makes it a good estimate of the total number of speeding drivers in each state. Keep in mind that the actual figure may be more or less than Insurify’s findings.

Ohio claimed the #1 spot for speeding tickets

Insurify’s 2021 data showed that Ohio had 16.12% of drivers with a speeding ticket on record. This is 35% above the national average. In addition, the number of failures to stop violations also exceeds the national average by 27%. This puts the state in sixth place for failure to stop violations in the nation.

These crimes are not without punishment. According to Driving Laws, the first and second tickets are regarded as misdemeanors and come with a fine of $150. The fine increases by hundreds of dollars for anything after this and can lead to possible jail time. The maximum fine for speeding tickets after four and subsequent offenses is $500, and this can land speeders in jail for up to 60 days.

Other states with frequent speeding tickets

In order from highest to lowest percentage, the other states on the list include Virginia, Iowa, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Delaware. Surprisingly, the findings don’t seem to correspond to a specific region of the U.S. and include states from the north and the south. Each has similar percentages, with the difference between Ohio and Delaware, the highest and lowest, respectively, being only 3%. All of these percentages are above the national average, which is about 10.54%.

The data also indicated that the number of drivers with failure to stop violations didn’t necessarily correspond with the ranking order. Some states, such as Idaho, had 2.23% of drivers listed with this violation. Delaware, one place below them on the list at slot #10, had a higher number than this at 3.32%. This is also the case with Ohio and Virginia, which had 2.4 and 2.62%, respectively. For the most part, these percentages were 1-2% above the national average, which is 1.77%. The only exception to this is South Carolina, which had 1.11%.