If you have been waiting for some positive news about driver safety in New York, here it is. A recent study found that New York State had the second-lowest rate of distracted driving in the United States.
According to WTEN-TV, these findings come from a website called WhistleOut.com, which compiled data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on distracted driving fatalities and a national survey on distracted driving rates. New York came out with the second-lowest rate, behind only Arkansas. The worst states in the study were New Mexico, Alabama and Montana.
Good and bad data across the country
As you might have noticed, there is no regional pattern to the rankings. Both the ten best and ten worst states are scattered across the country. Both heavily populated states like New York, California, Florida and Pennsylvania are included, as are low-population states like Arkansas, Alaska and Kansas.
Keep in mind…
It’s encouraging to hear that New Yorkers are doing so well at avoiding distracted driving compared with other states. But keep in mind that this data is statewide and does not specifically indicate distracted driving rates in New York City, let alone Brooklyn. And just because New York State has relatively few serious distracted driving crashes, it does not mean they don’t happen here.
Distracted driving is a national safety problem. A few seconds of distraction is all it takes for a driver to become a terrible danger to other drivers, passengers and pedestrians. A wreck caused by a distracted driver can change your life, but you should not have to bear the financial burden of a long-term or permanent disability or the tragic loss of a loved one.