I admit it, I completely dreaded my kids learning to drive. Even though it was going to be more convenient, I was not looking forward to traffic violations, fines and accidents. I have to say, my kids definitely added to Idaho's bad showing on this list.

During my family's teenage driving years, between the seven kids, we've had three accidents, a few fender benders and a couple of traffic tickets. How we still have insurance, I will never know.

I know now that some of this fear was irrational, but there's also some good evidence to support that Idaho is full of bad teen drivers. According to a recent Wallet Hub report showing the best states for teen drivers, Idaho ranked 43rd. According to my math and based on 50 U.S. States, this makes us the 8th worst state in the country for teens on the road!

This number was determined by studying and compiling a variety of information including teen driver fatalities, average cost of car repairs, and presence of impaired-driving laws.

Here's how Idaho stands on the Teen Driving scale - keep in mind that 1 is the best and 25 is the average. Here is a breakdown of the study and where Idaho teen drivers ranked in each category:

  •  43rd – Teen Driver Fatalities per Teen Population
  • 38th – Teen DUIs per Teen Population
  • 39th – Avg. Cost of Car Repairs
  • 37th – Premium Increase After Adding Teen Driver to Parent’s Policy
  • 23rd – Vehicle Miles Traveled per Capita
  • 28th – Presence of Occupant-Protection Laws
  • 21st – Quality of Roads
  • 29th – Presence of Impaired-Driving Laws

Obviously Idaho isn't the best place for teen drivers considering we didn't hit the top 10 or even top 20 in any category. In fact, in all but one category our state ranks well below average.

What do you think we can do to improve these numbers? Let me know your thoughts at:

To read more about this study:

 

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