2017’s best and worst states for teenage drivers

With teens obtaining driver’s licenses during the summer more than any other season and an average of 226 auto-related teen deaths occurring every month, the personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on 2017’s Best & Worst States for Teen Drivers.

In order to determine the safest and least costly driving environments for U.S. teenagers, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states based on 21 key metrics. The data set ranges from number of teen driver fatalities to average cost of car repairs to presence of impaired-driving laws.

Rhode Island has the fewest teen driver fatalities per 100,000 teens, 2.12, which is 10.5 times fewer than in Montana, the state with the most at 22.32.

Nebraska has the lowest proportion of major roads in poor condition, 5 percent, which is 8.8 times lower than in Connecticut, the state with the highest at 44 percent.

Hawaii has the lowest premium increase after adding a teen driver to a parent’s auto-insurance policy, 16.93 percent, which is 7.4 times lower than in New Hampshire, the state with the highest at 125.39 percent.

New York has the fewest vehicle miles traveled per capita, 6,467, which is 2.6 times fewer than in Wyoming, the state with the most at 16,556.

Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Virginia and Wyoming all lack most of the optimal number of teen drivers’ Graduated DriverLicensing (GDL) provisions, each with two or fewer of the seven provisions.

To view the full report and your state’s rank, go online to:

https://wallethub.com/ edu/best-worst-states-forteen-drivers/4598/.

METRO NEWS SERVICE PHOTO Although 15- to 19-year-olds made up only 7 percent of the population in 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they racked up 11 percent of all costs resulting from motor-vehicle injuries. That’s not counting the costs of...