Hawaii the 9th-worst state for drivers
Traffic was bumper-to-bumper for miles in Aiea as crews cleaned up a cement spill on the H-1 and H-2 freeways in the Ewa direction Wednesday morning.
Only eight states are worse for drivers than Hawaii, according to a new study.
Personal finance site Bankrate.com rated each state according to its traffic fatality count, number of car thefts, car repair costs, spending on gasoline, insurance premiums and commute times.
Washington ranked at No. 10 and Hawaii at 9.
The eight states that are even worse for drivers, in ascending order, are New York; Georgia, at No. 7; No. 6 Delaware; fifth-ranked New Jersey; No. 4, Maryland; No. 3, Texas; California at No. 2, and the worst state for drivers, according to the Bankrate analysis, is Louisiana.
Hawaii drivers spent an estimated $1,347 on gasoline in 2014, the third-highest total in the nation, 42 percent higher than the typical American motorist had to spend. Gasoline in the islands cost an average $4.16 a gallon, more than in any other state during last year.
The Aloha State has the tenth-highest rate of car thefts, at 262 per 100,000 population, and Hawaii drivers’ insurance premiums exceed the national average by $27.
In Louisiana, while gas prices are only $68 higher than the national average, insurance premiums are the highest in the country with a five-year estimate of $1,279. That tops the national average by 40 percent.
Drivers in Louisiana spend more time commuting and are more likely to be involved in a fatal crash, the study found. Car repair prices also are higher, but the car theft rate is 10 percent lower than the national average.
Separately, a 2014 study by Nerdwallet.com, another personal finance site, ranked the Honolulu metro area as the 9th-worst U.S. city for drivers using similar parameters; while another study by data technology company INRIX measured Honolulu traffic as second-worst in the U.S.
