Driver Risk: How Risky Are You?

Insurance companies have their own algorithms for determining prices, separate from the software that trucking and fleet companies use to determine driver risk. They take a person’s driving history into account, including their number of at-fault accidents, tickets, and DUIs in the past three to five years.

What Is Driver Risk?

Driver risk is an independent measure of how prone someone is to traffic fatalities, injuries, and collisions in general, creating a risk profile for each individual who takes the assessment. It’s part of the field of Intelligent Transportation Systems, risk management software related to transportation such as driving.

How Is Driver Risk Determined?

While different companies have different software for determining driver risk, they all take into account factors such as these:

• Aggressive acceleration
• Distracted driving
• Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• Drowsy driving
• Excessive speeding events
• Hard cornering
• Harsh braking¹

There’s no arguing: Driving is risky, even with the safest practices. These are some of its risks:

Accidents

Whether or not you’re at fault, accidents are always a risk you take when you drive. At-fault accidents increase the cost of auto insurance, unless the incident falls under an accident forgiveness clause.

Tickets

Whether it’s for speeding or driving under the influence (DUI), getting tickets can lead to fines as well as insurance rate increases.

SR22s and FR44s

In some states, if you get a DUI or are caught driving without insurance, you may have to get an SR22, which is a certificate verifying that you have the required motor vehicle liability insurance. In Virginia and Florida, in some cases, you’ll need to get an FR44 instead, which is a form that verifies you have coverage above the minimum.

Not only will you have to pay fees for these forms, but having an SR22 or an FR44 also makes it more difficult and thus expensive to get insurance. Not every state provides easily accessible information on SR22s, but we’ve compiled the information for 32 of the 50 states below.

Teen Driving Risks

Driving is even riskier for teens, who are inexperienced and thus more likely to be involved in accidents. While these risks apply to all drivers, they’re especially acute for teens, which is why auto insurance costs more for teens.

• Nighttime driving: Whether it’s from fatigue, more impaired drivers, or the difficulty of seeing, fatal crashes peak on Saturday nights when many teens are out partying with friends.

Although the most fatal crashes take place in the afternoon and the most nonfatal crashes take place in the early evening, more people are driving during these hours. Additionally, there are more crashes during spring and summer. In these months, fatal crashes peaked between 8 p.m. and just before midnight.

• DUIs: In 2019, over 1.3 million people were arrested for DUIs, about 0.5 percent of the total population.⁵ The most common group to be arrested for DUIs that year was people ages 20 to 29, when you control for the number of licensed drivers.⁶ Considering that drivers ages 20 to 29 are 45 percent more likely than the rest of the population to be arrested for DUIs, it’s no surprise that younger drivers pay more for auto insurance.

• Driving with passengers: Passengers can fall under the general concept of “distracted driving” if they’re taking your attention away from the road.
• Driving without seat belts: Although over 90 percent of people in the U.S. wear seat belts, in 47 percent of passenger vehicle occupant deaths in 2019, they were unrestrained. In other words, they weren’t wearing seat belts.
• Distracted driving: Distracted driving is anything that takes your eyes off the road while you’re driving, such as texing and driving and general cell phone use while driving.⁷

Reducing your driving risk means changing your behavior and attitude while driving. Here are the most important ways you can minimize your risk of an accident:

1. Drive defensively. Defensive driving means driving in a safe way to avoid hazards. That includes planning ahead by checking the weather, leaving space between you and the car in front of you, and scanning your surroundings.⁸
2. Avoid distracted driving. Don’t use your phone while driving, and if you must, use a hands-free voice assistant like Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri if it’s legal in your state. Check your DMV’s website to read up on the laws.
3. Don’t drink and drive. It should go without saying, but don’t drink or do drugs and then drive, unless you want to get expensive DUI auto insurance and risk injuries or fatalities.
4. Avoid road rage. Road rage is aggressive driving such as speeding, cutting people off, tailgating, weaving through traffic, or even confronting other drivers. When you’re driving, try to stay calm and avoid aggravating an already tense situation.
5. Avoid drowsy driving. 2019 saw 697 deaths from crashes related to drowsy driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. To avoid drowsy driving, try to get enough sleep (seven to eight hours is ideal), don’t drink alcohol (which is a depressant), and make sure you can drive safely while taking your prescription medications. If a drug may cause drowsiness, it’s best not to drive while you’re on it.

While you can’t control someone else hitting your car, you can control how risky of a driver you are. Being a careful driver isn’t just a good idea for your safety; it’ll also help you avoid being responsible for an at-fault accident, which will keep the cost of your auto insurance relatively low.

Learn more in our auto insurance guide, where we go over the minimum coverage required in each state, and what other coverages we think are important for auto theft, auto vandalism, and other incidents.