(NEXSTAR) – Driving at night is dangerous no matter where you are in the U.S. It’s harder to see and you’re more likely to be sharing the road with fellow drivers who are either tired and could potentially doze off or have had one too many drinks and are driving under the influence.
In fact, driving at night is actually nine times more dangerous than driving during the day. This is according to MoneyGeek, which analyzed over 93,000 fatal driving accidents reported by the NHTSA in the Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS).
For the entire U.S., MoneyGeek divided a full day of driving into four parts—dawn, day, dusk, and night—and found how often people drove during each part of the day and when a fatal accident occurred.
What they found was that 83% of trips by drivers happen during the day, with 47% of fatal accidents happening during the day. Dawn and dusk were the same with 4% of trips occurring during each period of time with each having 2% of fatal accidents. That leaves night with 9% of driving trips and an alarming 49% of fatalities occurring during nighttime.
Using this logic, MoneyGeek broke down how increased the risk of driving at night is for drivers in each state and found that California landed at the top of the list being 12.1 times more dangerous than driving during the day.
Hawaii was in a close second with it being an even 12 times more dangerous, Florida finished at No. 3 followed by Texas and Maryland to round out the top five.
| Rank | State | Night Driving Increased Risk of Deadly Accidents |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | California | 12.1 |
| 2. | Hawaii | 12.0 |
| 3. | Florida | 11.2 |
| 4. | Texas | 10.8 |
| 5. | Maryland | 10.6 |
| 6. | Louisiana | 10.2 |
| 7. | New Jersey | 9.8 |
| 8. | South Carolina | 9.7 |
| 9. | Rhode Island | 9.5 |
| 10. | Nevada | 9.2 |
| 11. | Delaware | 9.2 |
| 12. | Connecticut | 9.2 |
You can find more information on the dangers of nighttime driving by checking out MoneyGeek’s full breakdown on their website.
Tips for driving safely at night
Driving at night is unavoidable sometimes, we all have places we need to go, and the only way to get there is to get behind the wheel of your car.
An online driving school, iDriveSafely, laid out a list of helpful tips to help you stay safe while on the road at night.
The first is to check both your headlights and taillights. This will help you see better and help other drivers see you. Another light tip is to not look directly into another drivers headlights. This will hopefully help you avoid being temporarily blinded and unable to see the road clearly.
Another tip is to slow down and keep your distance from the car in front of you, be a defensive driver, there’s no need to rush home.
Finally, don’t be distracted and don’t drink and drive. Stay off your phone while on the road and keep your full attention on what’s in front of you. And if you’ve been drinking, try to find another ride home if you can.
For more tips, check out iDriveSafely’s website.
