The research team at personal injury law firm\u00a0Andrew Pickett Law<\/a>\u00a0analyzed Thanksgiving traffic fatalities using data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to rank the deadliest states for Thanksgiving travel from 2014 to 2023.<\/p>\n Key Findings:<\/p>\n New York ranks as the safest state nationally with 5.69 deaths in car crashes per one million residents during Thanksgiving\u201461.74% lower than the U.S. average of 14.88 fatalities.<\/p>\n The state recorded 115 total Thanksgiving fatalities over the past decade (2014-2023).<\/p>\n Despite being the safest state overall, New York leads the nation in pedestrian fatalities, with 31.7% of Thanksgiving deaths involving pedestrians\u2014ranking 4th nationally.<\/p>\n 48.3% of New York’s Thanksgiving fatalities were drivers, ranking the state 47th nationally for driver deaths.<\/p>\n The Northeast dominates the safest rankings, with five of the top 10 safest states located in the region: New York (1st), Massachusetts (2nd), Rhode Island (3rd), New Jersey (6th), and New Hampshire (7th).<\/p>\n Last year, the\u00a0National Safety Council<\/a>\u00a0estimated 502 deaths on U.S. roads during the Thanksgiving holiday period, with 35% of fatalities involving an alcohol-impaired driver and approximately 57,200 nonfatal medically consulted injuries resulting from crashes.<\/p>\n Safest States for Thanksgiving Driving<\/p>\n Rank<\/p>\n State<\/p>\n Total Fatalities (2014-2023)<\/p>\n Fatalities Per 1M Residents<\/p>\n % Comparison to National Average<\/p>\n 50<\/p>\n New York<\/p>\n 115<\/p>\n 5.69<\/p>\n 61.74% lower<\/p>\n 49<\/p>\n Massachusetts<\/p>\n 41<\/p>\n 5.83<\/p>\n 60.81% lower<\/p>\n 48<\/p>\n Rhode Island<\/p>\n 7<\/p>\n 6.38<\/p>\n 57.12% lower<\/p>\n 47<\/p>\n Minnesota<\/p>\n 37<\/p>\n 6.48<\/p>\n 56.42% lower<\/p>\n 46<\/p>\n Washington<\/p>\n 68<\/p>\n 8.83<\/p>\n 40.68% lower<\/p>\n 45<\/p>\n New Jersey<\/p>\n 87<\/p>\n 9.37<\/p>\n 37.05% lower<\/p>\n 44<\/p>\n New Hampshire<\/p>\n 13<\/p>\n 9.44<\/p>\n 36.57% lower<\/p>\n 43<\/p>\n Virginia<\/p>\n 90<\/p>\n 10.43<\/p>\n 29.91% lower<\/p>\n 42<\/p>\n Wisconsin<\/p>\n 62<\/p>\n 10.52<\/p>\n 29.29% lower<\/p>\n 41<\/p>\n Pennsylvania<\/p>\n 137<\/p>\n 10.54<\/p>\n 29.18% lower<\/p>\n Percentage of Fatalities by Casualty Type in New York<\/p>\n Rank<\/p>\n Casualty Type<\/p>\n % of Total Fatalities<\/p>\n 1<\/p>\n Driver<\/p>\n 48.30%<\/p>\n 2<\/p>\n Pedestrian\u00a0<\/p>\n 31.70%<\/p>\n 3<\/p>\n Passenger\u00a0<\/p>\n 16.70%<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n Bicyclist\u00a0<\/p>\n 3.30%<\/p>\n The study also identified New York’s rankings in driver and pedestrian fatalities:<\/p>\n States with the Most Driver Fatalities<\/p>\n Rank<\/p>\n State<\/p>\n % of Driver Fatalities<\/p>\n 41<\/p>\n New Jersey<\/p>\n 52.3<\/p>\n 42<\/p>\n Alaska<\/p>\n 50.0<\/p>\n 42<\/p>\n Hawaii<\/p>\n 50.0<\/p>\n 44<\/p>\n Oklahoma<\/p>\n 49.4<\/p>\n 45<\/p>\n California<\/p>\n 49.3<\/p>\n 46<\/p>\n New Mexico<\/p>\n 48.9<\/p>\n 47<\/p>\n New York<\/p>\n 48.3<\/p>\n 48<\/p>\n Washington<\/p>\n 47.1<\/p>\n 49<\/p>\n New Hampshire<\/p>\n 46.2<\/p>\n 50<\/p>\n Rhode Island<\/p>\n 42.9<\/p>\n States with the Most Pedestrian Fatalities<\/p>\n Rank<\/p>\n State<\/p>\n % of Pedestrian Fatalities<\/p>\n 1<\/p>\n Hawaii<\/p>\n 42.9<\/p>\n 1<\/p>\n Rhode Island<\/p>\n 42.9<\/p>\n 3<\/p>\n Washington<\/p>\n 35.7<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n New York<\/p>\n 31.7<\/p>\n 5<\/p>\n Delaware<\/p>\n 30.8<\/p>\n 6<\/p>\n California<\/p>\n 28.5<\/p>\n 7<\/p>\n New Mexico<\/p>\n 27.7<\/p>\n 8<\/p>\n Oregon<\/p>\n 27.6<\/p>\n 9<\/p>\n Louisiana<\/p>\n 27.2<\/p>\n 10<\/p>\n Alaska<\/p>\n 25.0<\/p>\n Andrew Pickett<\/a>, personal injury lawyer and owner of Melbourne, Florida-based\u00a0Andrew Pickett Law<\/a>, commented:<\/p>\n \u201cWith millions of Americans on the road this holiday season, it\u2019s more important than ever to prioritize safety. Simple steps like slowing down, staying alert, avoiding distractions, and never driving under the influence can make a real difference in preventing accidents and ensuring everyone gets home safely for Thanksgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n Gallery Credit: CANVA\/IL<\/p>\n Indiana Retailers Closed Thanksgiving 2025<\/p>\n Here’s a list of retailers that will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, 2025. <\/p>\n Gallery Credit: Travis Sams<\/p>\n Thanksgiving 101: How To Keep Your Dogs Safe<\/p>\n This Thanksgiving make sure to keep your pets safe! From food they can and can NOT eat, to house safety tips and more, here\u2019s how you can keep your dogs safe this Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n Gallery Credit: Canva<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new study reveals that New York is the safest state for Thanksgiving travel, but the state leads…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4632,53,19513,19514,19515,3764,9,11,10,12,19516],"class_list":["post-45053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-around-the-hudson-valley","tag-articles","tag-hudson-valley-business","tag-hudson-valley-entertainment-news","tag-hudson-valley-events","tag-hudson-valley-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-news","tag-news-from-wpdh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"WPDH-WPDA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WPDHFM.png\")
<\/p>\nThe Best and Worst Days to Drive for Thanksgiving<\/p>\n