Florida drivers face a surprising spike in road dangers as the weather warms up, according to a massive new data analysis. Two of the state’s metropolitan areas have landed in the top 10 nationwide for the highest proportion of springtime traffic fatalities.
The study, conducted by the personal injury law firm Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers, tracked a decade of data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System between 2014 and 2023. Researchers looked at 387 metropolitan core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) across the United States to calculate which regions see the sharpest percentage of their annual traffic deaths occur between March and May.
The Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor came in as the second most dangerous metro area in the country for spring driving. Over the 10-year period, 32.6% of the area’s total traffic deaths occurred in the spring months—accounting for 73 out of 224 recorded fatalities.
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Further up the coast, the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach metro area ranked ninth nationally. While its percentage was slightly lower at 30.7%, the raw numbers were significantly higher due to the population size, with 396 of its 1,289 total traffic fatalities occurring during the spring.
St. George, Utah, claimed the number one spot in the study, with 32.8% of its traffic fatalities happening in the spring. Bowling Green, Kentucky (32.5%), and Salisbury, Maryland (31.9%), rounded out the top four.
Nationally, the average proportion of traffic fatalities recorded in the spring sits at 23.7%. Across the board, summer actually ranks as the most dangerous season in America, making up 27.7% of annual road deaths.
“The aim of the study was to provide insights into the hazard levels experienced by drivers across the U.S., and how these vary throughout the year,” said Lee Coleman, Attorney, Managing Partner, and Co-Founder of Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers.
“Typically, it may be thought that winter weather may present the most risks for drivers,” Coleman stated. “Interestingly, however, the data revealed that summer presents the biggest risk for drivers across the U.S., and spring had a higher rate of traffic fatalities than winter on average.”
The study highlights that changing seasons bring shifting variables to local roads, from weather fluctuations to influxes of vacationers.
“Importantly, each season can bring its own challenges and risks, with changing road and weather conditions, to vacation periods when traffic volumes increase,” Coleman added. “Drivers must remain vigilant when behind the wheel and adapt to driving conditions to help ensure the safety of all road users.”
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