U.S. is Third Most Dangerous Country to Drive In
At 130 mph, the U.S. along with several other countries has the third highest maximum speed limit out of 56 nations.

Photo: pexels.com/Enric Cruz Lopez
The United States ranks third out of 56 countries for the most dangerous places to drive with a fatality rate of 12.4 per 100,000 population, according to an analysis from Zutobi.
The only two countries that rank worse than the U.S. are Thailand and South Africa, with fatality rates of 32.7 and 25.9, respectively.
However, the report evaluates far more than just the fatality rate to give a country its overall safety score. For example, Zutobi explored other factors such as maximum speed limits, number of people who wear a seat belt, and collisions attributed to alcohol use.
While Germany and Poland boast the highest maximum speed limits —141 mph and 140 mph, respectively — the U.S. is not very far behind with a maximum speed limit of 130 mph.
Yet National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data shows that speeding puts everyone at risk. In the U.S., speeding killed 9.478 people in 2019 alone.
Add to that the fact that the Zutobi analysis shows that the U.S. ranks ninth out of 56 countries when it comes to road deaths linked to alcohol use. Here again, NHTSA data reinforces the fact that drunk driving is among the biggest hazards on the roadways with approximately 28 people in the U.S. dying in drunk driving crashes every day — that’s one person every 52 minutes.
When it comes to seat belt compliance, the Zutobi report shows that the U.S. performed about average as compared with our countries, with a score of 90.1. This number reflects a national estimate of the percentage of car occupants who use a seatbelt when traveling in the front of a vehicle, according to the World Health Organization.
The three countries that earned the top overall safety scores for best places to drive include Norway, which ranked first, followed by Japan and Sweden.
More Safety
How Better Visibility Cut Speeding Violations by 48%
Fleet leaders don't need more data, they need clearer visibility into what the data is saying. This case study explores how one utility replaced speeding-event counts with a single metric — miles driven in violation — to strengthen safety and significantly reduce speeding violations.
Read More →
Operation Safe Driver Week: Why the Industry's Oldest Safety Campaign Still Matters to Fleets
A look at how a 2007 enforcement initiative became one of the most consequential weeks on the fleet safety calendar, and what it means for your drivers in 2026.
Read More →
Nexar-Nauto Merger Aims to Give Fleets Better Safety Intelligence Through Larger Driving Dataset
Stefan Heck tells Automotive Fleet that combining more than 10 billion miles of driving history with Nexar's AI models will give fleets deeper insights into driver risk and roadway conditions than either company could provide independently.
Read More →From Silos to Solutions: Relationship Management for Safer Fleets
From telematics adoption and driver accountability to policy consistency and risk mitigation, this episode breaks down what it really takes to build a safer fleet culture without slowing business down.
Read More →
IIHS Launches First Commercial Vehicle Safety Evaluations
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has begun evaluating heavy-duty pickups and cargo vans for driver protection. Which models earned top marks?
Read More →
Reducing Risk by Eliminating Phone Use Behind the Wheel
Hosted with the cofounder of Lifesaver Mobile, this episode addresses phone use behind the wheel and how to design a driving environment that actually helps prevents accidents.
Read More →
Cameras, Safety and Insurance: From Reactive Claims to Real-Time Prevention (Part 2 of 2)
Part Two: Commercial auto remains one of the most challenging and costly lines of coverage for fleet operators and insurers alike. Continue learning more about how to effectively address these issues from Onur Aksan, Enterprise Business Development Executive, Geotab
Read More →
How 5-Second Telematics Data Is Changing Fleet Safety
This episode connects with Steve Santostasi of Ford Pro and covers how a few seconds of data can make a difference in fleet safety.
Read More →
Managing Road Risk at Scale: Why Fleet Safety Needs a Data-Driven Framework
Insights from the FIA Road and Driver Safety Indexes reveal how to manage road risk on a larger scale.
Read More →
Stellantis Recalls 1.3 Million Jeep Vehicles Worldwide Over Fire Risk
Stellantis is recalling more than 1.3 million Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator models worldwide over a fire risk linked to power steering pump wiring.
Read More →
