Have you ever gone on a road trip and thought that people in another state were terrible drivers? Everyone probably has at some point. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) says over 34,000 car accidents in 2017 resulted in more than 37,000 deaths. When it comes down to it, which state has the most car accidents?

The United States has a lot of car accidents

The people at Insurify study various car insurance claims around the nation. The national average for car accidents in the U.S. shows that around 12% of car owners have an at-fault accident on record. Out of 100,000 deaths, 11.4% can be attributed to car wrecks. High accident rates tend to correlate with high-traffic urban areas where many cars share a small amount of road.

“Many of the states with the most crashes are concentrated along the ultra-urbanized Eastern seaboard. It may come as no surprise that with all of those drivers, more collisions are bound to occur.”

Insurify

The study also showed a “moderate inverse correlation” between those who have caused an accident with the rate of fatalities. In other words, there might be fewer accidents, but the accidents are deadlier. The more populated areas have a lot of accidents, but these tend to be slower and less severe.

Which state has the most car accidents?

The number one state with the most car accidents is Maryland, with 16.67% of drivers reporting a prior at-fault accident. In 2017, the number of fatal crashes reported was 511. 9.1% of deaths per 100,000 people in Maryland were accident-related. 92.1% of people in the state reported using a seat belt. Maryland doesn’t have that many cars on the road, but it does have a lot of accidents. It is also the home to the second-longest commutes in the country.

The second state with the most car accidents was Massachusetts, with 16.29% of drivers reporting a prior at-fault accident. There were 336 fatal crashes in 2017, but it has the second-lowest rate of wearing seatbelts along with the second-highest rate of accidents.

Insurify looked at over 1.6 million insurance applications to get this information. These applications usually ask about at-fault accidents, locations, and other statistics to determine an insurance rate. The statistics on fatal crashes from the 2017 Fatality Facts report from the IIHS. Insurify also looked at the Traffic Safety Facts 2017 from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Which state has the most accident-prone drivers?

Insurify also says that drivers reporting an at-fault car accident across all 50 states is 10.18%. 6.31% of drivers reported an accident that was someone else’s fault. Maine has the highest rate of drivers with a no-fault accident on record, at 8.78%. Maine (8.34%), Pennsylvania (8.11%), Maryland (8.10%), and New Jersey (8.05%) follow closely.

Insurify noted “no significant correlation between a state’s accident rate and its rate of traffic fatalities.” Massachusetts has the highest rate of at-fault accidents in the nation but only has 0.51% of traffic deaths per 100 million vehicle miles.

No matter what, staying safe on the roads is essential. The NHTSA, IIHS, and U.S. Department of Transportation all work together to make roads safer for drivers. If you go to Massachusetts, Maryland, or any other accident-prone state anytime soon, keep both hands on the wheels and your eyes on the road. You never know what might happen!