Florida is one of the most dangerous states for driving, a recent report shows

A lately revealed report from the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety shows Florida has some of fewest roadway security legal guidelines in the nation.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Florida scored a 2 for optimum roadway security legal guidelines. Only Montana and Wyoming scored decrease.

Tara Gill is the senior director of advocacy and state laws for the group. She says Florida lags in baby passenger security, teen driving and automatic pace enforcement legal guidelines, amongst different points, and that it’s been robust to get traction on new driving insurance policies in the state.

“Every year, we come back to Florida and we have to defend the state’s red light camera law,” Gill said. “So, it would be really helpful if we could just focus on improving traffic safety laws, rather than having to defend good laws that are already on the books.”

Of the states with the lowest total scores, Florida has by far the largest inhabitants, with 10 million extra individuals than Michigan, which has the second largest inhabitants thought of in the hazard zone for highway security.

Gill mentioned there are 13 highway security legal guidelines that different states have handed. Going ahead, she says, Florida wants a focus. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration lists seat belt use, dashing and impairment as high causes for visitors fatalities, so the group wish to see the state prioritize legal guidelines surrounding these considerations.

“I’d say to Florida, enhance your rear seat belt regulation, enact an all-offender ignition interlock machine regulation and begin utilizing automated pace enforcement,” Gill mentioned.

More particular examples of legal guidelines different states have applied embrace a rear seat belt requirement, tighter baby booster seat tips, extra restrictions for teen drivers and upgrades to motorbike helmet legal guidelines for individuals older than 21.

Florida also needs to give attention to stopping impaired driving, Gill mentioned.

“We would urge the state to enact an all-offender ignition interlock device law, and a cellphone restriction for those novice drivers as well,” Gill mentioned. “That’s a complete cellphone ban.”

Gill mentioned other than creating new coverage, utilizing federal infrastructure {dollars} to enhance the situation of Florida roadways may even forestall crashes.

In 2021, Florida reported over 3,700 visitors fatalities and virtually $14 billion {dollars} spent on crashes, in accordance with the research.

“When you break down all these numbers, the (annual) economic cost for each person living in the U.S. – that’s what we call a crash tax on every living person – it’s about $950,” Gill mentioned.

In complete, the analysis shows that motorized vehicle crashes value the United States and its citizen’s over $300 billion {dollars}, together with misplaced office productiveness, property injury, and medical prices.

“The takeaway is that we need action,” Gill mentioned. “We know what the solutions are; we detailed them in the report, and we’re not the first people to come up with these solutions.”

Only 5 states in the U.S. are in the “good” class for optimum highway security legal guidelines, whereas 36 states have obtained a “caution” score, which means they’ve applied at the least some of the legal guidelines urged by the group.

Florida joins Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming as the 9 states with a “danger” score, which means all of them fall behind on the subject of advisable highway security legal guidelines.

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