America’s Most Common Dangerous Traffic Violations

• New study reveals the offenses that drivers involved in deadly crashes are most likely to be charged with
• Most common charge is reckless or careless driving, followed by license and registration violations
• More than half a million drivers have been involved in fatal collisions between 2012 and 2021

New research has revealed the most common traffic violations in deadly crashes over the past ten years.

The study by pre-settlement legal funding company High Rise Financial analyzed from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, on drivers involved in fatal collisions between 2012 and 2021.

The figures revealed that the most common type of violation drivers were charged with was being reckless or careless, as 23,663 drivers have been charged with offenses in this category between 2012 and 2021, out of a total of 507,728 drivers who were involved in deadly crashes. That equates to 4.66% of all drivers involved in fatal collisions – the highest portion of the seven different categories of offense that the study measured.

The worst year for reckless or careless offenses charged was 2012, when 2,288 (5.01%) of the 45,664 drivers in fatal collisions were charged with the offense. The state where drivers were most likely to be charged with the violation after a deadly crash was Colorado, where 16.02% of drivers did so. Nevada had the second highest rate of 14.95%, while New Jersey was third on 13.80%.

The second most common charge for drivers involved in a deadly collision was license and registration violations, such as driving while license withdrawn. Over the ten year period 3.92% of drivers involved in fatal crashes received this charge, which is 19,888 in total.

New Hampshire was the state where driving while license withdrawn was most common, as 367 out of 1,531 drivers in fatal crashes were found to have done so. The violation happened second most often in Washington, with 13.62% of drivers being charged, while Delaware was in third place on 12.21%.

The third most common violation that drivers were charged with after being involved in a fatal accident was impairment offenses, such as driving while intoxicated. In total 3.92% of drivers in deadly collisions received this charge – 13,429 overall.

Impairment offenses were most likely in Nevada, with 407 out of 4,469 drivers in deadly crashes being charged with one, which equates to 9.11%. Delaware had the second highest rate, on 6.63%, while North Dakota was third on 5.56%.

The fourth most common violation from drivers in deadly crashes was under the category of turning, yielding and signalling, such as disobeying signs, or turning too wide or in the wrong lane. Between 2012 and 2021, 6,698 drivers were charged with the offense after being involved in a fatal collision, which is 1.32%.

The violation was most likely to happen in Nevada, as 4.03% drivers were charged with it, following by 3.99% of drivers in Illinois, and 3.44% of drivers in New Jersey.

Commenting on the study, a spokesperson for High Rise Financial said: “There were more than 500,000 drivers involved in fatal crashes over the ten year period that the study measured, which is more than 100 every single day across America. In total around 15% of them were charged with driving violations, which ranged from manslaughter to speeding, to unsafe passing. The data also reveals that 2021 was the worst year measured for the number of drivers in deadly accidents, with more than 60,000 – no other year saw more than 55,000 drivers involved in a fatal collision. This highlights that road safety can’t ever be taken for granted, and all road users should always take every care when they are travelling.”

The most common violations charged following a fatal crash

Number of violations charged by year

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