How Utah Compares To Other States On Teen Driving Safety

Utah drivers have heard the jokes.

Someone forgets how a turn signal works on I-15, another driver treats the left lane like a permanent campsite, and suddenly everyone is declaring Utah home to the worst drivers in America.

New Drivers Face Unique Challenges in Utah

A new MoneyGeek study, however, suggests the bigger concern may be what happens when drivers are just getting started.

MoneyGeek analyzed conditions for new drivers across 49 states, looking at four factors: fatal crash involvement among drivers ages 15 to 20, insurance costs for a 16-year-old, the strength of graduated driver licensing laws and local driving conditions such as weather and rural roads. The study found states in the West and South generally present tougher conditions for inexperienced drivers.

Teenage Drivers: A Growing Concern

That matters in Utah, where teen drivers make up only about 9% of licensed drivers but are involved in 21% of all crashes and 28% of serious-injury crashes, according to the Utah Highway Safety Office. From 2020 through 2024, crashes involving teen drivers resulted in nearly 29,000 injuries and were connected to 193 traffic deaths. So maybe Mom and Dad gripping the passenger-side armrest during that first drive through Bluff Street traffic aren't being completely dramatic.

The Impact of Speeding in Roadway Fatalities

Speed is another major concern. Utah safety officials say speeding was connected to roughly one-third of roadway fatalities from 2020 through 2024, and teenage drivers accounted for 22% of speed-related crashes.

Surprising Rankings: Utah's Driver Quality

But before we surrender completely to the stereotype that Utahns couldn't merge if their lives depended on it, there's another statistic worth mentioning. A separate MoneyGeek analysis ranked Utah fourth in the nation for overall driver quality, based on driving habits, driving choices and insurance coverage.

So perhaps Utah drivers aren't universally terrible after all.

Maybe we're just exceptionally good at noticing when someone else is.