“The release of this report provides states with a clear
roadmap to close deadly loopholes in traffic safety laws,” says Catherine
Chase, Advocates’ Vice President of Governmental Affairs. “Governors and state
elected officials have no excuse as to where they should focus their safety
priorities.”
Encouraging news is that in 2014, three states were upgraded
from yellow to green: Hawaii, Indiana and Maine. At the other end of the
spectrum, seven states (Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North
Carolina and Tennessee) were downgraded from green to yellow, while five states
slid into the red: Alabama, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire and North Dakota.
Along with the report, Advocates names its best
and worst states when it comes to highway safety.
The best:
District of Columbia
Illinois
Oregon
Delaware
Hawaii
Indiana
Maine
Rhode Island
Washington
California
Louisiana
The worst:
South Dakota
Mississippi
Arizona
Iowa
Montana
Nebraska
Alabama
Florida
New Hampshire
North Dakota
Wyoming
“The tragic and life-altering consequences of motor vehicle
crashes are predictable, preventable and perilous,” says Georges Benjamin,
Executive Director, American Public Health Association. “States have the
solutions at hand—they are right here in Advocates’ Roadmap Report. Yet,
inaction in passing basic, commonsense laws continues to jeopardize the lives
and well-being of our nation’s motorists.”
