Buckle-Up: Is Iowa One of the Most Dangerous States For Young Drivers?
Every parent wants to keep their kids safe. There are always new studies coming out that are often, in all honesty, designed to scare us. Studies about foods that cause cancer, or items we all interact with that are bad for you. But this study, if you have kids of driving age, might be one you'll want to take a closer look at.
Iowa is not a great state for teen drivers
A new study from WalletHub Iowa is one of the top more most dangerous states for young drivers. Not a statistic to be proud of, unfortunately, but one we can do our best to change over time. For this study, WalletHub dug into three key metrics: Safety, Economic Environment, and also Driving Laws.
They pulled the data from 2018 and used data factored in the percentage of the state's population that is between the ages of 15 and 19. After crunching numbers, Iowa finished 30 out of 50. So while Iowa was not one of the top 10 most dangerous, it was still within the top 20 most dangerous.
It found the top 5 most dangerous states are:
1. Missouri
2. Montana
3. South Dakota
4. Idaho
5. Wyoming
In Iowa, we came in near the bottom for Provision of Teen Driver's Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) Program Laws, meaning programs that allow younger drivers to safely gain driving experience before obtaining full driving privileges. In Iowa, you can apply for an instruction permit at the age of 14.
This may be driving up (no pun intended) issues with younger drivers, including accidents and citations. Iowa did rank high in lowest cost for car repair. That means even a teen with a smaller paycheck shouldn't need to beg their folks for help covering car repair costs.
You can read the full report here. Drive safe!
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