National Study Ranks Wyoming Third Most Dangerous State For Drivers

A new national survey by a Michigan law firm ranks Wyoming as the third most dangerous state for drivers.

The numbers are from 2024. The study was conducted by  Ravid & Associates.

Wyoming's neighbor to the north, Montana, was rated the most dangerous state, followed by South Carolina. Minnesota was rated as the safest state in the survey.

What Led To Wyoming's High Rating For Highway Danger?

The single biggest factor that caused Wyoming to be rated the most dangerous state was alcohol. According to the survey, 42 percent of Wyoming's highway deaths involved a driver with a Blood Alcohol Content of .008 or higher.

That was second only to Hawaii in the report.

That probably isn't surprising in view of the fact that Wyoming typically rates among the states with the highest rates of drunk driving according to numerous national reports and surveys.

Wyoming also ranked among the worst states for seat belt use, with 73 percent of Wyoming drivers buckled up, according to the report. While 73 percent might not sound that bad, every other state except Montana had at least 80 percent seat belt use, with some states scoring as high as 95 percent.

Wyoming received an overall danger score of 79.2 in the report, compared to 90.2 for Montana and 85.8 for South Carolina.

Here is the methodology used in the report:

Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), "Fatality Facts 2024: State by State," compiled from the U.S. DOT's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and Federal Highway Administration vehicle-miles-traveled data. Seat belt use is from NHTSA's National Center for Statistics and Analysis observational survey. All figures reflect calendar year 2024.

Danger Index construction: each state was percentile-ranked on five metrics, then combined into a single 0–100 composite score using the weights below:

• Fatalities per 100,000 population: 30%
• Fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled: 25%
• Share of crash deaths involving speeding: 15%
• Estimated share of fatally injured drivers with BAC ≥ 0.08%: 15%
• Observed front-seat belt use rate, inverted (lower use = higher risk): 15%