Connecticut Deemed One of the Best States for Teen Drivers in 2024

One of the most nerve-wracking moments in any parent's life is watching your teenage driver drive away for the first time after they've got a driver's license. As terrifying as our roadways can appear here in Connecticut, a new study has listed Connecticut as one of the best states in 2024 for teen drivers.

I got my driver's license a long time ago, in 1985, when I was 16 years old. I learned how to drive in Waterbury, white knuckling the steering wheel of my grandmother's Oldsmobile on the horror that is known as the Mixmaster, the I-84/Rt.8 interchange. I-84 is a much more terrifying roadway in 2024 than it was in 1985, in my opinion, but Wallethub.com has a different take. According to their study Best & Worst States for Teen Drivers 2024, Connecticut is the 6th best state this year.

In order to determine their rankings for the study, Wallethub.com compared all 50 states across three key dimensions: Safety, Economic Environment, and Driving Laws, and then evaluated that data across 23 dimensions. Some of the metrics include: Teen Driver Fatalities per 100,000 teens, vehicle miles traveled per capita, Teen 'under the Influence" violations, Share of teens using mobile devices while driving, seatbelt use, quality of roadways, cost of speeding ticket, average cost of gas, car repairs, insurance premium increase after adding a teen driver, and the rates of enforcement of violation.

Connecticut was found to be the most expensive state in the US for the average cost of a car repair, but we landed at 11th best in Safety, 31st in Economic Environment rankings, and 6th best in Driving Laws. Which states make up the Top 5? New York came in at #1, followed by Oregon, New Jersey, Washington, and Massachusetts.