GOSHEN COUNTY – Wyoming is the worst state for teenaged drivers in the U.S., according to personal-finance website WalletHub. Analysts gathered information about safety, economic environment and driving laws for each state to make the final determination, which listed New York, Washington and Maryland as the top three safest and most affordable places for teen drivers, and put Montana, South Dakota and the Cowboy State at the bottom.

Wyoming ranked 50th – at the bottom of the list – in two of the key metrics WalletHub considered, including teen driver fatalities per 100,000 teens and vehicle miles traveled per capita. But local officials are doing everything they can to ensure teen driver safety.

“The sheriff’s office has a zero-tolerance position on the enforcement of underage drinking in Goshen County,” Undersheriff Jeremy Wardell said Monday. “In the future, the sheriff’s office will have a bigger presence in our schools talking about the dangers of underage drinking, drinking and driving, and distracted driving.”

In addition, the website looked at traffic indiscipline, quality of roads, driving schools per capita, teen ‘under the influence’ traffic violations, share of teens drinking and driving, share of teens texting or emailing while driving, share of teens aged 18 to 24 always or nearly always wearing a seatbelt, cost of teen crash-related deaths, maximum cost of speeding and red-light tickets, maximum amount of first-offense fines for not wearing a seatbelt, premium increase after adding a teen driver to parents’ auto-insurance policy, average cost of car repairs and gas prices, punitiveness of insurance companies toward high-risk drivers, provision of teen driver’s graduated driver licensing (GDL) program laws; presence of occupant-protection, impaired driving, distracted driving and red-light and speeding camera laws, and leniency toward DUI violations. 

Wyoming ranked 47th for teen DUIs per teen population; 31st for presence of distracted-driving or texting-while-driving laws; 46th, premium increase after adding a teen driver to parent’s policy; 36th, provision of teen driver’s GDL program laws; 28th in presence of occupant-protection laws; and 31st, presence of impaired driving laws.

“Be a positive role model to your teen drivers in safe driving practice, such as wearing a seatbelt, (being) attentive, minimizing distraction, etc.,” Mei Chen, associate professor, Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Kentucky, said. “You can start teaching them situation awareness and your best driving practice as you shuttle them around long before they start driving themselves. Let them have enough practice on both local roads and highways before getting a license.”

WalletHub cited data sources as the U.S. Census Bureau, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, EverQuote, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Road Information Program, CarMD, InsuranceQuotes, the Governors Highway Safety Association, American Automobile Association and its own research.

To read the study in its entirety, visit https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-states-for-teen-drivers/4598/.