Highway Safety Group Grades States on Safety Laws

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety has published its 2014 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws. The report rates states’ highway safety based on how many optimal laws they have enacted. Advocates has identified 15 optimal highway laws on which to base its rating system. New in this year’s report is the inclusion of a primary enforcement seat belt law covering passengers in the rear seating positions. States are given ratings of green (good), yellow (caution) and red (danger).

“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.”