The Best and Worst States for Teen Drivers

posted by Brian Slupski

What parts of the country are the worst places to be a teen driver?

Wallethub.com looked at 16 different metrics including accidents, insurance premiums, and tickets to figure out which states were the least and most teen driver friendly.

For example, teens in New Jersey face the challenge of having the most costly car repairs in the country. The cheapest place to have your car repaired if you are a teen? Vermont.

"I think the biggest challenge for parents is making sure that the teen's tremendous enthusiasm for driving is tempered by a recognition of the seriousness and dangerousness of the activity," Laurence Steinberg, professor of psychology at Temple University told Wallethub.

Indiana had the highest teen driver fatalities per licensed drivers in the country. The state also was among the worst states in the country for teen under the influence violations.

The states with the least number of fatalities? Utah, Delaware and the Patch area of Connecticut.

Overall, the kindest state for teens was New York, which ranked 2nd in safe driving conditions, 7th for economic conditions and no. 1 for driving laws. Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington also made the top 10 and California finished at 11.

New Jersey, despite those high repair bills, still came in at 12 overall in terms of teen friendliness.

The worst state to be a teen driver? South Dakota. It ranked 48th in safety and 50th in driving laws.

Scroll over the map attached to this post to see where your state ranked.