States with the Most Speeding Tickets in 2022

Chase Gardner
Written byChase Gardner
Headshot of Chase Gardner
Chase GardnerData Insights Manager
  • Data expert on auto trends and driver behavior

  • University of Chicago graduate with statistics degree

Chase spearheads analytics for Insurify’s data insights team. With his deep expertise in insurance data, Chase is often interviewed on industry trends.

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Tanveen Vohra
Edited byTanveen Vohra
Tanveen Vohra
Tanveen VohraManager of Content and Communications
  • Property and casualty insurance specialist

  • 4+ years creating insurance content

Tanveen manages Insurify's data insights, annual home and auto insurance reports, and media communications. She’s regularly featured in media interviews on insurance topics.

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Headshot of Konstantin Halachev, VP of Engineering at Insurify
Konstantin HalachevVice President of Engineering
  • 7+ years experience in data analysis

  • Ph.D. in Computational Biology

Konstantin has led data teams across multiple industries, including insurance, travel, and biology. He’s led Insurify’s engineering team for more than three years.

Published April 29, 2022 | Reading time: 8 minutes

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Drivers who ignore the speed limit travel in every corner of the country, but these ten states are home to the most motorists with speeding tickets in the U.S.

While most Americans are eager to forget the shelter-in-place orders that defined the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many drivers haven’t forgotten many of the bad habits they picked up while the roads were empty. Traffic fatalities have risen dramatically over the past couple of years, due in most part to Americans driving faster — and more recklessly — than ever before. Elevated rates of dangerous driving behavior are likely not disappearing any time soon, so drivers today should be cautious and practice safe driving when out on the open road, especially in areas where motorists are more likely to disregard local speed limits.

Curious to see which states’ drivers have the greatest need for speed, data scientists at Insurify turned to their database of over 4.6 million car insurance applications to identify the ten states with the most speeding tickets in 2022.

Heat map of the United States showing the states with the most speeding tickets in 2022.

Insights

  • National averages. Across the U.S., 9.18% of drivers have a speeding ticket on record in 2022. That’s roughly as many people as the number of Americans who say basketball is their favorite sport. Meanwhile, 35.0 drivers per 10,000 have a failure to yield (to another driver or a pedestrian) violation on record. While less common, motorists with a failure to yield violation on record are still about as prevalent on the roads as those driving an electric vehicle. The median maximum posted speed limit for urban interstates in America is 65 mph.

  • Slow and steady in the Northeast. While drivers in the Northeast are not often thought of as the most easy going behind the wheel, Insurify’s 2022 data shows that they actually accrue speeding violations at below-average rates. Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, and New Jersey all rank among the ten states with the fewest speeding tickets. Connecticut even has the least speeding-prone drivers in the country, with only 4.74% of the state’s motorists reporting a prior speeding infraction on record.

  • Speeding and failure to yield violations are significantly correlated. Failure to yield infractions — either to another driver or to a pedestrian — are serious violations, and it turns out that their prevalence is related to that of speeding rates. Insurify data scientists found that, at the state level, citation rates for speeding and failure to yield infractions have a positive, statistically significant correlation (p-value \< 0.05). This means that a state with a high share of drivers with a speeding ticket is also likely to have a high proportion of drivers reporting a failure to yield violation on record.

Bar chart showing the 10 states in the U.S. with the most speeding tickets in 2022, plus the national average.

Methodology

To identify the states with the most speeding tickets, the data science team at Insurify, a platform to compare car insurance quotes, turned to their database of over 4.6 million car insurance applications. When applying for auto insurance, applicants must disclose their state of residence and driving history, including any speeding tickets accrued in the past seven years. Analysts compared the number of drivers with speeding violations to the total number of drivers in each state to determine the state’s proportion of speedy drivers. Data on failure to yield violations (including failure to yield to another driver and failure to yield to a pedestrian) also came from Insurify’s database. The maximum posted speed limit in each state comes from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The findings in this article represent statistical trends found in Insurify’s database of over 4.6 million car insurance applications. The findings of this study are not meant to imply the direction nor necessarily the existence of a causal relationship. Rather, this is a presentation of statistical correlations of public interest.

Where do drivers get the most speeding tickets?

1. Ohio - Share of drivers cited for speeding: 14.95%
2. Iowa - Share of drivers cited for speeding: 14.87%
3. North Dakota - Share of drivers cited for speeding: 14.41%
4. Wisconsin - Share of drivers cited for speeding: 13.43%
5. South Carolina - Share of drivers cited for speeding: 13.35%
6. Virginia - Share of drivers cited for speeding: 12.65%
7. Alaska - Share of drivers cited for speeding: 12.40%
8. Washington - Share of drivers cited for speeding: 12.17%
9. Colorado - Share of drivers cited for speeding: 12.03%
10. Wyoming - Share of drivers cited for speeding: 12.01%

10 States with the Most Speeding Tickets in 2022

10. Wyoming

  • Percentage of drivers with a speeding ticket on record: 12.01%

  • Drivers per 10,000 with a failure to yield violation on record: 43.9

  • Maximum posted speed limit (urban interstates): 75 mph

It appears some Wyoming drivers have a need for speed. At 12.01%, the state’s speeding violation rate is the tenth-highest in the nation. To even get ticketed, Cowboy State motorists need to be driving fast, too: with a maximum posted speed limit of 75 mph, Wyoming allows urban interstate travelers to legally drive up to 10 mph above the national median.

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9. Colorado

  • Percentage of drivers with a speeding ticket on record: 12.03%

  • Drivers per 10,000 with a failure to yield violation on record: 41.7

  • Maximum posted speed limit (urban interstates): 65 mph

Another mountain state, another state with above-average rates of speeding. With 12.03% of Colorado drivers reporting a speeding fraction on record, the state’s speeding rate is 1.3 times higher than the national average.

8. Washington

  • Percentage of drivers with a speeding ticket on record: 12.17%

  • Drivers per 10,000 with a failure to yield violation on record: 55.3

  • Maximum posted speed limit (urban interstates): 60 mph

The Evergreen State’s speeding infraction rate is 33% higher than the national average, and, at 12.17%, places the state eighth on the list of states with the most speeding tickets. Washington motorists are also cited for failing to yield to another driver or to a pedestrian 19% more often than average.

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7. Alaska

  • Percentage of drivers with a speeding ticket on record: 12.40%

  • Drivers per 10,000 with a failure to yield violation on record: 60.7

  • Maximum posted speed limit (urban interstates): 55 mph

With a speeding infraction rate of 12.40%, Alaska ranks seventh on the list of states with the most speeding tickets. As the least densely populated state in the nation, its drivers often have to travel long distances to reach their destination, yet the state’s maximum posted speed limit for urban interstates is 55 mph — tied for the slowest in the nation. This combination of long commutes and slower speed limits might contribute to Alaska motorists bending the rules of the road at elevated rates.

6. Virginia

  • Percentage of drivers with a speeding ticket on record: 12.65%

  • Drivers per 10,000 with a failure to yield violation on record: 75.4

  • Maximum posted speed limit (urban interstates): 70 mph

Virginia is notable among the ten states with the most speeding tickets for being one of the only two states on the East Coast. Its 12.65% speeding violation rate is 1.4 times higher than the national average. It appears that when it comes to racking up speeding infractions, Virginia drivers have more in common with motorists from the Mountain West and Midwest than they do with their fellow drivers along the Atlantic.

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5. South Carolina

  • Percentage of drivers with a speeding ticket on record: 13.35%

  • Drivers per 10,000 with a failure to yield violation on record: 39.0

  • Maximum posted speed limit (urban interstates): 70 mph

Palmetto State drivers significantly exceed posted speed limits 45% more often than the national average. 13.35% of South Carolina motorists have a prior speeding ticket on record, placing the state fifth on the list of states with the most speeding infractions. Driving in South Carolina is also more dangerous than anywhere else in the country, as the state has the highest number of traffic deaths per mile driven.

4. Wisconsin

  • Percentage of drivers with a speeding ticket on record: 13.43%

  • Drivers per 10,000 with a failure to yield violation on record: 91.9

  • Maximum posted speed limit (urban interstates): 70 mph

With 13.43% of Wisconsin drivers reporting a prior speeding ticket on record, the Badger State ranks fourth on the list of states with the most speeding violations in 2022. 91.9 per 10,000 Wisconsin motorists have a failure to yield infraction on record, which is the highest rate in the country, exceeding the national average by a whopping 163%.

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3. North Dakota

  • Percentage of drivers with a speeding ticket on record: 14.41%

  • Drivers per 10,000 with a failure to yield violation on record: 20.7

  • Maximum posted speed limit (urban interstates): 75 mph

Certain North Dakota drivers really know how to put the pedal to the metal. The state’s 14.41% speeding infraction rate is third-highest in the country, yet North Dakota’s maximum posted speed limit on urban interstates goes all the way up to 75 mph, tied for the highest maximum in the nation. North Dakota, however, is the only state on this list with a below-average share of drivers with a failure to yield violation on record.

2. Iowa

  • Percentage of drivers with a speeding ticket on record: 14.87%

  • Drivers per 10,000 with a failure to yield violation on record: 49.5

  • Maximum posted speed limit (urban interstates): 55 mph

Fun fact: Iowa is the only state bordered by two navigable rivers (the Missouri and the Mississippi). Not very fun fact: 14.87% of Iowa drivers report a speeding ticket on their driving record. This share is 1.6 times greater than the national average, and it places the Hawkeye State second on the list of states with the most speeding tickets.

1. Ohio

  • Percentage of drivers with a speeding ticket on record: 14.95%

  • Drivers per 10,000 with a failure to yield violation on record: 61.2

  • Maximum posted speed limit (urban interstates): 65 mph

Just like Hawkeye State drivers, many Buckeye motorists also don’t have much of an eye for posted speed limits, despite what both state nicknames might suggest. 14.95% of Ohio drivers have a prior speeding ticket on record, which is the most of any state in the country. Furthermore, the state’s failure to yield infraction rate of 61.2 per 10,000 drivers is 75% higher than the national average.

Sources

Data Attribution

The information, statistics, and data visualizations on this page are free to use, we just ask that you attribute any full or partial use to Insurify with a link to this page. Thank you!

If you have any questions or comments about this article or would like to request the data, please contact insights@insurify.com.

Chase Gardner
Chase GardnerData Insights Manager

Chase Gardner is a data journalist at Insurify. He informs readers on major developments in the auto and home industries through research into driver behavior, homeownership tendencies, cost of living trends, and more. He received a bachelor’s degree with concentrations in Environmental & Urban Studies and Statistics from the University of Chicago. Chase’s work has been cited in MSN, Yahoo News, The Street, and dozens of local news outlets across the country.

Tanveen Vohra
Edited byTanveen VohraManager of Content and Communications
Tanveen Vohra
Tanveen VohraManager of Content and Communications
  • Property and casualty insurance specialist

  • 4+ years creating insurance content

Tanveen manages Insurify's data insights, annual home and auto insurance reports, and media communications. She’s regularly featured in media interviews on insurance topics.

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Konstantin Halachev
Reviewed byKonstantin HalachevVice President of Engineering
Headshot of Konstantin Halachev, VP of Engineering at Insurify
Konstantin HalachevVice President of Engineering
  • 7+ years experience in data analysis

  • Ph.D. in Computational Biology

Konstantin has led data teams across multiple industries, including insurance, travel, and biology. He’s led Insurify’s engineering team for more than three years.