NEW JERSEY – A new study has found that New Jersey is one of the top ten most dangerous US states to drive at night.
The study by Arizona personal injury lawyers Zanes Law analyzed fatal crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 2017 and 2021 to see which state had the highest percentage of fatal crashes that occurred at night.
It found that Hawaii is statistically the most dangerous state to drive at night. There were a total of 483 fatal crashes in the state in the five year period, with 285 of these at night, which is a percentage of 59.01%, the highest of any US state.
California takes second on the list, with the Golden State experiencing a total of 18,137 fatal crashes in the timeframe used in the study, with 10,578, or 58.32% of these occurring at nighttime.
Taking third place on the list is the state of Florida, where there was a total of 8,944 deadly crashes at nighttime between 2017 and 2021, out of 15,342 incidents in total. As a result, 58.30% of all crashes occurred at night in the study.
Coming in fourth place is Texas, which comes in with a total of 17,549 crashes between 2017 and 2021. The study found that 10,087, or 57.48%, of these crashes occurred at nighttime.
Rounding out the top five is the state of South Carolina, with the Palmetto state experiencing 2,779 nighttime crashes, which makes up 56.75% of the 4,897 recorded total, giving it the fifth-place position.
Statistically, the safest state to drive in at night is Vermont; this is because only 109, or 37.07%, of the 294 fatal crashes recorded between 2017 and 2021 occurred at night.
| Rank | State | Daytime | Nighttime | Unknown | Total | % of fatal crashes at night |
| 1 | Hawaii | 188 | 285 | 10 | 483 | 59.01% |
| 2 | California | 7,201 | 10,578 | 358 | 18,137 | 58.32% |
| 3 | Florida | 6,395 | 8,944 | 3 | 15,342 | 58.30% |
| 4 | Texas | 7,460 | 10,087 | 2 | 17,549 | 57.48% |
| 5 | South Carolina | 2,118 | 2,779 | 0 | 4,897 | 56.75% |
| 6 | Maryland | 1,120 | 1,447 | 0 | 2,567 | 56.37% |
| 7 | Connecticut | 570 | 749 | 19 | 1,338 | 55.98% |
| 8 | Rhode Island | 138 | 174 | 1 | 313 | 55.59% |
| 9 | Louisiana | 1,641 | 2,085 | 28 | 3,754 | 55.54% |
| 10 | New Jersey | 1,301 | 1,556 | 0 | 2,857 | 54.46% |
“While some may expect driving in the daytime to be more dangerous with more cars on the road, it’s the idea of wide open roads and limited visibility at night that can be the biggest risk factors. What’s also interesting to see here, is states of similar size and population having such contrasting results when it comes to fatalities on the road,” a spokesperson for Zanes Law said.
The law firm used data from the NHTSA, the number of fatal crashes that occurred at nighttime in each state was calculated into a percentage of the total number of recorded fatal crashes.
