New Study Shows July 4th is Most Dangerous Day to Drive

A new study into America’s driving and fatality reports has revealed that July 4th is officially the most dangerous day to drive in the United States.

The study, conducted by Geotab, a telematics and GPS vehicle tracking company, looked at the fatality and traffic data over a 10-year period to see how U.S. states differ when it comes to road safety. Using this data, they created an interactive infographic to show the most dangerous day to drive in each state, which you can view here.

Every year, over 30,000 people are killed on the roads in the United States, but recent findings have shown that specific days of the year, and even certain states, are more dangerous than others. Dates around national celebrations including Labor Day, Halloween and New Year’s Day, where alcohol consumption is at its highest, prove to have a significantly higher Fatal Crash Rate (FCR) than other days in the year.

The findings followed an analysis of road traffic, crash and fatality reports, including the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and Traffic Volume Trends most recently published in December 2016. Using this data, Geotab calculated a Fatal Crash Rate for each day and U.S. state, made up of the total number of fatal road accidents per billion miles driven by cars, trucks and motorcycles.

With an average of 119 deadly crashes over a 10-year period and a Fatal Crash Rate of 14.9, July 4th is the most dangerous day to drive in the United States. Unsurprisingly, July 4th also has the highest percentage of fatal crashes involving alcohol or incidents of driving under the influence, with an average of 47%.

On average, 28% of all road crashes are related to alcohol and driving under the influence, but that rate goes up significantly around national holidays. New Year’s Day (41.6%) and Halloween (41%), which also feature in the top 10 most dangerous days to drive, have a high percentage of alcohol related fatalities, each recording an FCR of 13.6.

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