Florida ranks 26th in the country for safe driving during Labor Day Weekend

With Jacksonville roads ranked dangerous, Donna Deegan has rolled out the city’s Vision Zero plan.

Labor Day Weekend is the unofficial ending of Summer, giving families one more chance to take a road trip. And those on Florida’s roads need to drive extra carefully.

A new analysis by Munley Law ranked Florida the 26th-safest state in the U.S. for driving during the Labor Day period. That puts Florida right in the middle of the pack among the 50 states and Washington, D.C.

But that still presents a danger for drivers. The Munley Law study found that as far as Summer travel goes, Labor Day is the most treacherous only behind the Fourth of July. The report showed that 513 people were killed in car crashes during the Labor Day weekend of 2023 in the U.S. That’s up from the previous year, when 496 lives were lost.

The law firm used data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, FBI and Census Bureau to compile its rankings. The study factored in traffic fatalities, drunk driving charges, speeding tickets, pedestrian fatalities and other elements to compile a safe driving score for the Labor Day stretch.

Florida scored 0.048, landing just behind Michigan at 25th with a score of 0.108. Iowa placed just below Florida with a score of 0.016.

Key elements from 2024 contributing to Florida’s Labor Day driving score were the state’s 13.64 traffic fatalities per 100,000 residents, which was 35th in the country. Florida did much better with drunk driving arrests, at 87.49 per 100,0000 people, or fifth-best in the nation.

The best metric for Florida was fatal crashes involving speeding. There were only 1.31 deadly speeding accidents per 100,000 people last year, the lowest in the country.

The safest state for Labor Day Weekend driving, according to the study, is New York, with a score of 1.994. That was followed by Massachusetts (1.77) and Utah (1.455). No Sun Belt states were in the top 10.

The most dangerous state is New Mexico, with a score of -2.727. Mississippi was next lowest, scoring -2.072, just behind Wyoming, with a score of -1.948. Eight out of the 10 worst states for driving during the Labor Day period were Sun Belt states.