South Dakota Ranked Worst State For Teen Drivers

By Nate Wek

Published June 18, 2015 at 6:30 PM CDT

According to Richie Bernardo with WalletHub, South Dakota is the worst state in the nation for teen drivers. In this study, Bernardo looked at the “Teen Driver’s Graduated Driver Licensing Program Laws,” or GDL, to determine the rankings.

Included in the GDL provisions are: minimum age 16 for a learning permit, 6-month holding period, 30-50 hours of supervised driving, nighttime driving restriction, passenger restriction, cell phone restriction, and age 18 for unrestricted license.

South Dakota only holds two of these seven GDL provisions.

Also included in Bernardo’s study, South Dakota is also ranked 48 in “Most Teen Driving Fatalities,” and ranked last for “Highest Number of Teen DUI’s.”

50-State Teen Driver Rankings

Rank	State	"Safety Conditions" Rank	"Economic Environment" Rank	"Driving Laws" Rank
1	New York	3	2	6
2	Oregon	2	23	3
3	Massachusetts	1	28	25
4	Hawaii	4	5	15
5	Delaware	7	39	2
6	Illinois	8	32	4
7	Connecticut	6	42	24
8	Nevada	10	6	29
9	Rhode Island	9	45	13
10	New Jersey	12	11	23
11	Washington	18	31	1
12	California	11	26	16
13	Louisiana	19	15	5
14	Maryland	14	7	28
15	Alaska	21	19	7
16	Virginia	14	33	21
17	Utah	13	47	18
18	Georgia	19	43	9
19	Ohio	5	41	45
20	North Carolina	26	8	12
21	West Virginia	25	29	9
22	Texas	17	14	35
23	Michigan	27	1	34
24	Tennessee	33	18	7
25	New Mexico	34	3	20
26	Florida	14	17	41
27	Indiana	22	44	16
28	Minnesota	24	38	27
29	Colorado	37	13	18
30	South Carolina	34	29	14
31	New Hampshire	28	46	26
32	Alabama	30	27	31
33	Kansas	42	10	11
34	Pennsylvania	31	21	37
35	Kentucky	36	37	30
36	Wisconsin	38	15	32
37	Vermont	22	48	44
38	Arizona	29	35	43
39	Iowa	32	34	40
40	Arkansas	39	36	32
41	Idaho	41	25	36
42	Maine	46	49	22
43	Mississippi	40	4	49
44	Oklahoma	46	9	39
45	Nebraska	43	20	47
46	Missouri	44	22	45
47	Wyoming	45	50	42
48	North Dakota	50	40	38
49	Montana	49	24	48
50	South Dakota	48	12	50

To see more information about the study conducted by WalletHub, click here.