SC among riskiest states for Christmas travel this year, new report shows. Where it ranks and why

South Carolina is the 14th riskiest state for travel over the Christmas holiday this year, a new report shows.

Christmas travel rarely goes smoothly.

From getting rowdy children to settle down, to bad weather and plane delays, the ordeal can be a real pain. However, some states can be worse for travel than others, depending on certain factors, according to a new report from quotewizard.com, a site that offers drivers average car insurance rate information.

To determine the riskiest states for holiday travel, the company evaluated each state on 10 different health and safety factors. Among the top factors were COVID-19 case rates, vaccination rates, flu activity and the number of accidents, speeding tickets and DUIs. Each state’s safety ranking was determined by averaging across all metric scores.

Here are key findings for South Carolina, according to the report.

• 17th riskiest based on health factors alone
• 20th riskiest based on driving factors alone
• Nationally, southern states pose a greater health risk

South Carolina has struggled with COVID-19 and flu this holiday season. The number of new COVID-19 cases was up 6.9% in the state as of Dec. 10 compared to the previous week, the latest statistics from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control shows.

Also, the state had a total of 39,187 reported flu cases as of Dec. 10, 15 times more than the total 2,503 reported by the same point last year, state statistics show.

There were 930 total collisions during the 2021 Christmas holiday period, resulting in 13 deaths on South Carolina roadways, according to the S.C. Department of Public Safety. As of December 19, there have been 1,015 traffic deaths this year, compared to 1,152 at this time in 2021.

In response to the expected jump in traffic this holiday weekend, the South Carolina Highway Patrol Troopers, State Transport Police Officers and local law enforcement agencies plan to crack down on impaired driving from now through New Year’s Day, a Tuesday press release from the Department of Public Safety states.

“Drivers can expect to see extra enforcement efforts on South Carolina roadways during the holidays to help reduce the number of impaired drivers,” said Colonel Christopher Williamson, Commander of the S.C. Highway Patrol.

Here are the 14 riskiest states for Christmas holiday travel, according to the report.

1. North Dakota
2. Rhode Island
3. Wyoming
4. Arizona
5. South Dakota
6. Utah
7. Ohio
8. Indiana
9. Wisconsin
10. Tennessee
11. Alabama
12. Florida
13. Georgia
14. South Carolina

Patrick McCreless

The State

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Patrick McCreless is the Southeast service journalism editor for McClatchy, who leads and edits a team of six reporters in South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi. The team writes about trending news of the day and topics that help readers in their daily lives and better informs them about their communities. He attended Jacksonville State University in Alabama and grew up in Tuscaloosa, AL.