A recent study reveals shows that the US has poor road safety levels, with some states have shockingly high rates of road deaths. According to the research, South Carolina has the worst rate of road deaths, with 24.9 fatalities/100,000 residents between 2019 and 2023, more than double the national average of 12.2 deaths/100,000 of population. The study was conducted by the personal injury attorneys at Anidjar & Levine.
Some important findings emerge from this close analysis of the data. Deficient windshield wipers or washing systems are an issue for 20% of the 231 million vehicles on US roads. Bad windshield wipers contribute to an estimated 1.2 million crashes and over 6,000 road fatalities in the US/year. Shockingly, 6 of the 10 deadliest states in America require no mandatory vehicle safety inspections. Over 20% of all U.S. vehicle crashes involve adverse weather conditions. States with mandatory inspections show a 5-9% reduction in crash rates. A full vehicle safety inspection costs just $20-$70 per year, yet 24 states do not require one.
The US has a poor record when it comes to addressing speeding and DUI. With the latter, police forces in many states still rely on archaic ability tests for drivers rather than proven breath and saliva testing kits that have been used across rest of the developed world successfully for decades. Penalties for driving offenders are also minimal in many US states when compared with other developed nations. Similarly, distracted driving is common in the US and measures to prevent drivers from using cellphones at the wheel have been minimal.
South Carolina heads the list of shame, with 24.9 road deaths/100,000 of population. West Virginia is second, with 24.7 road deaths/100,000 of population, Maryland is in third, with 20.7 road deaths/100,000 of population and Hawaii is fourth at 19.4 road deaths/100,000 of population. Arkansas is fifth, with 19.4 deaths/100,000 of population, Alabama is sixth with 19.1 road deaths/100,000 of population and Maine is seventh with 18.5 road deaths/100,000 of population. Tennessee is eighth with 18.4 road deaths/100,000 of population, Nevada is ninth with 18 road deaths/100,000 of population and New Hampshire is 10th, with 17.7 road deaths/100,000 of population.
1. South Carolina 24.9 per 100,000
South Carolina tops the list. With 24.9 traffic deaths/100,000 residents. South Carolina also records a rain-related fatality rate of 8.02/100,000 residents, one of the highest in the country. The state requires zero vehicle safety inspections. That means a driver can operate a car with cracked wiper blades, compromised brake lines, and bald tyres without any legal checkpoint ever catching it. When that vehicle meets a rainstorm on I-95 or a rural two-lane highway, the outcome is predictable.
2. West Virginia 24.7/100,000
West Virginia ranks second despite requiring biennial vehicle safety inspections. At 24.7 deaths/100,000 residents, the state nearly matches South Carolina’s rate even with a policy on the books. That is the most important anomaly in this entire dataset. Biennial inspections mean a vehicle gets checked once every two years. A wiper blade that was fine at inspection can fail within six months. West Virginia’s mountain terrain and severe seasonal weather make fully functioning wipers a survival tool, not a convenience. A two-year inspection cycle is not keeping pace with the conditions drivers face here.
3. Maryland 20.7/100,000
Maryland ranks third and requires only a single vehicle inspection, applied when a car is first registered or when a used vehicle changes hands. After that one check, there is no follow-up required for the life of the vehicle. Maryland’s fatality rate of 20.7/100,000 residents is nearly double the national average, and the data suggest that a one-time inspection policy is not providing protection for drivers or the people sharing roads with them.
4. Hawaii 19.5/100,000
Hawaii requires annual vehicle safety inspections and still ranks 4th nationally at 19.5 deaths/100,000 residents. Its VMT rate of 1.72 deaths/100 million vehicle miles travelled is the second highest on this list. Hawaii’s roads are short, heavily trafficked, and constantly exposed to tropical rain, humidity, and UV conditions that degrade rubber wiper blades faster than anywhere on the mainland. Annual inspections exist, but the interval between checks may still be too wide for the specific climate conditions drivers deal with every day on the islands.
5. Arkansas 19.4/100,000
Arkansas requires no vehicle safety inspections. With 19.4 deaths/100,000 residents, it ranks 5th nationally. Arkansas also records a rain-related fatality rate of 8.34/100,000 residents, the third-highest rate in the country for rain-related crashes. The state is rural, reliant on personal vehicles with minimal public transit alternative, and its roads carry a significant share of freight and logistics traffic. A driver on a rural Arkansas highway in a spring rainstorm with worn wiper blades has no legal requirement to fix the problem, and the fatality data reflects that reality.
6. Alabama 19.1/100,000
Alabama also requires no vehicle safety inspections. Its traffic fatality rate sits at 19.1/100,000 residents, and its rain-related fatality rate of 8.87/100,000 residents is the second worst in the entire country. Alabama’s workforce is concentrated in manufacturing, automotive, and logistics industries, where workers drive older, higher-mileage vehicles to and from shifts at all hours. These are the vehicles most likely to carry worn wiper blades and deferred maintenance. With no inspection requirement and no internal HR safety net to catch the problem, the NHTSA data keeps recording the consequences.
7. Maine 18.6/100,000
Maine requires annual vehicle inspections and still ranks 7th nationally at 18.6 deaths/100,000 residents. Maine recorded 23 snow-related fatalities between 2019 and 2023, producing a snow fatality rate of 1.65/100,000 residents. Wiper blades that pass a September inspection can be cracked, streaky, or split by January after months of ice, salt, and freezing temperatures.
8. Tennessee 18.4/100,000
Tennessee requires no vehicle safety inspections. Its fatality rate of 18.4/100,000 residents ranks 8th nationally, and its rain-related fatality rate of 7.52/100,000 residents ranks 6th worst in the country. Tennessee’s logistics and manufacturing sectors have grown over the past decade, adding hundreds of thousands of commercial and personal vehicle miles to state roads annually. Worker protections and road safety policy have not grown at the same pace.
9. Nevada 18/100,000
Nevada’s inspection requirements vary by county. Clark County and Washoe County require annual emissions inspections, but the rest of the state has no requirements at all. The result is a patchwork coverage system that leaves large portions of Nevada’s driving population without any safety checkpoints. Nevada records 18 deaths/100,000 residents and a VMT rate of 1.66, the third highest on this list. Desert driving creates a specific wiper problem.
10. New Hampshire 17.7/100,000
New Hampshire closes the list with 17.7 deaths/100,000 residents and requires no vehicle safety inspections. New Hampshire also operates without a state income tax, which limits the public infrastructure and enforcement resources available for road safety programs. The state experiences the full range of New England winter weather, including ice storms, heavy snow, and freezing rain, conditions where windshield visibility is not optional. Yet drivers in New Hampshire face no legal requirement to maintain the equipment that keeps that visibility intact.
The research reveals that in 24 states, including 6 of the 10 deadliest on this list, no law requires a driver to have their vehicle checked at any point after purchase. Windshield wipers have a functional lifespan of 6-12 months. In states with no inspection requirements, a driver can operate the same deteriorating wiper blades for years without a single legal nudge to replace them. When rain or snow hits, that deferred maintenance becomes a visibility crisis at highway speed.
The top 6 states for rain-related traffic fatalities/100,000 residents all lack mandatory vehicle inspection requirements. The top 3 states for snow-related fatalities/100,000 residents also operate without mandatory inspections. These are not dry-climate states where wiper performance rarely gets tested. These are states where adverse weather is a recurring, predictable danger, and where the policy environment does the least to ensure vehicles are equipped to handle it.
Put those two factors together, and the line runs straight from deferred wiper maintenance to a FARS fatality entry. That line runs faster and more often in these 10 states than anywhere else in the country.
The gap between South Carolina, at 24.9 deaths/100,000, and California, at 10.9/100,000 of population, is not fully explained by population, road design, or driver behaviour alone. It tracks directly against the presence or absence of mandatory vehicle safety requirements. States with inspections show a 5-9% reduction in crash rates.
Every state in the top 10 shares at least one of two problems: no inspection requirement at all, or an inspection interval that does not match the pace at which critical safety equipment like wiper blades degrades. The fix is not complicated. A $20-$70 annual inspection is all it takes to catch a defective wiper blade before it costs a life. The states leading this list have made a policy choice not to require it. The NHTSA data shows exactly what that choice costs.
This study was conducted by the personal injury attorneys at Anidjar & Levine, a law firm dedicated to protecting the rights of Floridians and visitors injured in vehicle accidents. Traffic fatality data were sourced from NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for the years 2019 through 2023. All figures are reported/100,000 population and/100 million vehicle miles travelled to allow accurate comparison across states of different sizes and driving volumes. Vehicle inspection requirement classifications were sourced from publicly available state DMV and legislative records. Population figures are based on US Census estimates.
It is shocking that some states in a wealthy and developed nation such as the US have such appalling rates of road deaths. Not only does this come with a heavy human cost in terms of families losing loved ones or people being maimed for the rest of their lives, it has a massive financial cost to the US economy also. Even small investments in improving road safety could reduce the heavy human and financial toll.
