Gary, Indiana. took the number two spot. Jackson, Mississippi took number three, though they were nowhere close to Daytona Beach, with 3.84 and 3.79 times the median rate of car deaths.
Among small towns — those with populations under 50,000 — Dayton, Texas (located in the greater Houston metro) topped the list with a crash death rate an astonishing 12.4 times the national median
Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JoWMRt2vMV2uwlzPc4InSJlKckEHr5WyxYbXTIIIjHo/edit?gid=0#gid=0
Florida appears 10 times on a list 25 cities long. What the hell is going on down there?
Florida is as car centric/pedestrian hostile as you can get really. Pair that with your run of the mill Florida Man and you’ve got one deadly combo.
And Daytona Beach in particular is a NASCAR speedway town.
Also, as a non-floridian from the northeast, all the weirdest/craziest people from my hometown moved down to Florida at one point or another.
I would guess that isn’t a phenomena unique to my town.
It’s also that there are a LOT of elderly people living there, many of whom should not be driving. Combined with a lot of immigrants and poor people who are walking or biking, and the hostile pedestrian infrastructure / car-centric sprawl and culture, it’s a recipe for disaster. (The wealth inequality down there is next level.) We were once in a car accident when visiting family there because some woman just backed into oncoming traffic (us). That’s the level of situational awareness for over half the drivers down there, 100% of the time. It’s harrowing Mad Max shit in a car, let alone as a pedestrian or biker. I’m sad my family member passed away, but so relieved I never have to go back to South Florida ever again.
There are almost zero walkable places in Florida. They don’t believe in sidewalks by and large. You will only find sidewalks at city centers, if I had to guess I’d say easily less than 10% of areas where you would expect there to be sidewalks actually have any. Just google “typical florida residential area” and look at images, here’s one of the first I came upon: there’s driveways and road, that’s it. Of course, there’s nothing within walking distance anyway - but they really embrace it in Florida.