Biker Dad: Most dangerous states to ride a motorcycle. Where your state ranks

Posted: May 28, 2019 / 09:54 AM EDT

Updated: May 29, 2019 / 08:49 AM EDT

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) – The Gulf Coast has some of the most dangerous roads in the country for riding motorcycles. That’s according to analysis from insurance website QuoteWizard. The website says it analyzed NHSTSA death data from 2017 and Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

All ranked near the top of the deadliest states. In fact, Mississippi is ranked the deadliest state for bikers. Florida is ranked 4th and Alabama 15th. That’s based on accidents per registered motorcycle. Florida actually had far more fatalities than Mississippi or Alabama, but it has vastly more bikers on the road too.

In 2017 there were 40 biker deaths in Mississippi and 79 in Alabama. There were 590 in Florida. The ranking however is based on accidents per registered motorcycle. QuoteWizard says that there’s one big reason southern states see more deaths, and it’s the weather.

“A key pattern we found in fatality rates among states is weather. Colder, more northern states like Alaska and New Hampshire have low fatality rates, while warmer, more southern states like Texas and Mississippi had the highest rates. When you consider that motorcycle riders in Alaska can only ride a few months out of the year, compared to Texas where you can ride all year long, that difference in rideable seasons has a huge impact on the number of fatalities. Warm weather states are most dangerous for motorcycle riders because of the year round chances of road fatalities compared to the limited time frames of colder weather states.”

The full list:

Rank (worst)	State	Registered Motorcycles	Fatalities	Fatalities per 10,000 Registered Motorcycles
1	Mississippi	28,124	40	14.22
2	Texas	364,690	490	13.44
3	South Carolina	118,132	145	12.27
4	Florida	586,267	590	10.06
5	Arizona	164,055	163	9.94
6	North Carolina	188,843	176	9.32
7	New Mexico	57,718	53	9.18
8	Kentucky	101,163	90	8.90
9	Missouri	138,294	121	8.75
10	Louisiana	113,664	96	8.45
11	Tennessee	165,968	134	8.07
12	Maryland	118,277	86	7.27
13	Arkansas	89,457	65	7.27
14	Nevada	76,032	54	7.10
15	Alabama	112,185	79	7.04
16	Hawaii	35,576	25	7.03
17	Oklahoma	136,190	93	6.83
18	Georgia	203,922	139	6.82
19	Connecticut	90,131	57	6.32
20	California	842,543	529	6.28
21	Virginia	193,951	117	6.03
22	Indiana	250,579	149	5.95
23	Wyoming	28,960	17	5.87
24	Kansas	95,892	56	5.84
25	Michigan	258,487	150	5.80
26	New Jersey	152,979	83	5.43
27	Colorado	190,002	103	5.42
28	Maine	51,467	26	5.05
29	Pennsylvania	377,158	187	4.96
30	Illinois	333,943	162	4.85
31	Nebraska	55,736	27	4.84
32	Utah	83,993	39	4.64
33	West Virginia	60,582	26	4.29
34	Vermont	30,955	13	4.20
35	Oregon	142,738	57	3.99
36	Idaho	63,297	25	3.95
37	Ohio	410,187	157	3.83
38	New York	392,178	145	3.70
39	Delaware	27,810	10	3.60
40	Rhode Island	30,914	11	3.56
41	Washington	231,401	80	3.46
42	Massachusets	168,931	51	3.02
43	Iowa	194,603	48	2.47
44	Wisconsin	324,670	77	2.37
45	North Dakota	51,941	12	2.31
46	Minnesota	241,556	55	2.28
47	New Hampshire	78,798	15	1.90
48	Alaska	31,859	6	1.88
49	South Dakota	117,461	16	1.36
50	Montana	306,655	23	.75