How Risky Is South Dakota for Thanksgiving Travel?

It's always one of the busiest travel times of the year and with that comes risks.

With an estimated 53 million Americans venturing out this Thanksgiving, one website set out to determine which places are the biggest rolls of the dice when it comes to safety and which are the least likely to have issues.

Quote Wizard looked at two key factors to determine each state's ranking on the 'risky' list for Thanksgiving travel and South Dakota fared well.

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The Mount Rushmore State landed in the top ten among the least risky travel destinations this Thanksgiving.

1. Connecticut
2. Illinois
3. New York
4. Delaware
5. Louisiana
6. New Jersey
7. Maine
8. Florida
9. Mississippi
10. South Dakota

COVID-19 rates and highway safety numbers are the two main contributing factors to the overall ranking.

South Dakota checked in at 33rd in overall health, ranking 19th in COVID cases, 20th in the rate of unvaccinated people, 36th in the COVID death rate, and 46th in hospital capacity.

In terms of highway safety, the state lands at 29th in the nation, with a high DUI rank (12th), low accident rank (47th), and middle-of-the-road speeding rank (22nd).

The South Dakota Highway Patrol has announced plans to track holiday weekend crashes on state roads beginning Wednesday (November 24) at 6:00 PM until Sunday (November 28) at midnight.

In 2020, there were 198 crashes resulting in 27 injuries and no fatalities in South Dakota over Thanksgiving weekend.

Two of our neighboring states landed on the risky list, with North Dakota third and Iowa fifth.

1. Alaska
2. Idaho
3. North Dakota
4. Wyoming
5. Iowa
6. New Mexico
7. Colorado
8. Utah
9. Wisconsin
10. Tennessee

North Dakota has the third-highest COVID and DUI rates in the country, while Iowa is among the top ten worst for speeding and DUI rates.

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