Labor Day is just around the corner and along with all the summer fun, there’s also a few safety considerations to keep in mind.
First and foremost, driving safety.
More people are killed in motor vehicle accidents on Labor Day than other other day, with the exception of July 4, according to a new study from Munley Law, a Pennsylvania-based personal injury firm.
“The latest data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that 511 people were killed in motor vehicle accidents during the 2023 Labor Day holiday period, up from 496 the previous year,” says the study, titled Safest and Most Dangerous States to Drive for Labor Day weekend.
“Of these 511 people, 185 (36 percent) were killed in crashes that involved at least one person driving drunk and 62 percent of those impaired drivers clocking blood alcohol levels nearly double the legal limit,” adds the report.
The study, based on the most recent data available from NHTSA, along with FBI and Census Bureau information, used seven specific factors to analyze road safety in all 50 states and Washington D.C. Those factors, assessed per 100,000 residents, included traffic fatalities, DUI’s, speeding, and pedestrian fatalities per capita.
And drum roll please, the result of that effort determined that the safest state in the country for driving over the popular holiday weekend is New York.
Meanwhile, you’ll want to avoid driving in New Mexico over Labor Day, if at all possible, as it was found to be the number one most dangerous place to be on the roads over the holiday ahead.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the study’s findings:
No. 1 New York: The Empire State ranked in the top 10 among five of the seven categories analyzed by Munley Law, including having the third fewest fatalities and DUI arrests per capita in the nation.
No. 51 New Mexico: The state of New Mexico was among the five worst states across six of the seven categories analyzed for the study. That includes being the location of the most pedestrian fatalities per capita and the fourth-most speeding fatalities.
10 Safest States: New York, Massachusetts, Utah, Hawaii, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Minnesota, D.C., New Hampshire, and Connecticut.
10 Most Dangerous States: New Mexico, Mississippi, Wyoming, South Carolina, Arizona, Montana, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, and Arkansas.
The analysis also found that the Northeast dominates the safest states. Massachusetts (which comes in at number 2) pairs 5.16 fatalities per 100,000 with one of the lowest speeding fatal crash rates (1.50).
Rhode Island (number 6 on the ranking) has the lowest fatality rate in the U.S. at 4.67 per 100,000.
Mississippi, on the other hand, was found to have the highest fatality rate in the US at 24.57 per 100,000. The number of uninsured motorists in Mississippi also tops the nation at 28.2 percent. Translation: this too is another state where you’ll want to try and stay off the roads as you bid farewell to summer 2025.
One final parting takeaway from the study – the deadliest road clusters on major interstates and U.S. routes. Here too, the south is not exactly faring well.
The deadliest roads were found to be I-35 in Texas (151 fatal crashes) and US-1 in Florida (131 fatal crashes.) Rounding out the three deadliest is I-5 in California.
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