New Jersey is one of the top 10 best states for teen drivers
Summer is the most popular season for teenagers to get their driver's licenses, according to personal-finance website WalletHub. It has released its report on 2021's "Best and Worst States for Teen Drivers."
To determine the safest and least costly driving environments for teens, WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said it compared all 50 states across 23 key metrics, ranging from the number of teen driver fatalities, to the average cost of car repairs to the presence of impaired-driving laws.
New Jersey is one of the top 10 best states for teen drivers, coming in at number 10, Gonzalez said. New Jersey does well when it comes to safety. It has most of the optimal graduated licensing provisions. It has one of the oldest ages that teens are even able to drive, which helps with teen driver fatalities.
New Jersey has a low number of teen driver fatalities. That's why this study is done in the summer because that's when the most teen driver fatalities happen, Gonzalez said. There are also fewer teen-under-the-influence traffic violations, and lower amounts of teen drinking and driving and texting.
A lot of this has to happen with the driving laws in place, where New Jersey also ranks very well in terms of stricter laws and simply more of them than other states, she added.
"New Jersey ranks number one when it comes to impaired-driving laws which is why I think we see such low numbers in terms of fatalities," Gonzalez said.
But even with all this good news, New Jersey has one area where it could use some work. She said it could do better when it comes to its economic environment. Right now, the average cost for car repairs is very expensive in the Garden State.
Also it's crazy expensive to add a teen driver to a parent's insurance policy. In New Jersey, the premium increase is the highest in the country, almost 75 times more expensive to add a teen driver to a parent's policy in the state, than it is in Oregon, Montana and even next door in Pennsylvania, Gonzalez stressed.
New York is the best state for teen drivers, according to the report. Oregon is second best followed by Connecticut, Alaska and Massachusetts. On the flip side, Wyoming is the worst state for teen drivers followed by Idaho, South Dakota, Montana and Missouri. Pennsylvania clocks in at 24th on the list.