Labor Day Traffic In MA Could Be Safer Than You Think

Buckle up for this news: A new report has ranked Massachusetts as the best state in the country when it comes to drivers. Good news for Labor Day travel.

Massachusetts, for all its rotaries and blinkahs, was No. 1, according to financial advising company SmartAsset. The study looked at four metrics: percent of drivers with insurance, number of DUIs per driver, average number of deaths per miles driven and how often residents Google terms such as traffic ticket or speeding ticket.

Massachusetts had the fewest fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled the third-highest percentage of insured drivers at 93.8 percent and the third-lowest DUI arrests per 1,000 drivers at 1.64.

The prevalence of Google searches for “traffic ticket” and “speeding ticket” was included in the final analysis but the results were not published, the authors noted.

If you don't quite trust SmartAssest's assessments (Mississippi had the worst drivers, it said,) the Massachusetts Department of Transportation still has some good news. To make things run a bit smoother, the MassDOT is shutting down roadway construction from noon Friday until Tuesday morning.

>>>Before you take off, check out live traffic conditions and cameras at mass511.com.

"With higher traffic volumes expected on roadways across the Commonwealth throughout the Labor Day period, we are advising travelers to make appropriate choices before getting behind the wheel and leaving for their destinations," said Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver.

• The HOV lane on I-93 between Boston and Quincy will open early early at 2 p.m. It will be closed Monday, but then reopen Tuesday morning.
• The additional "swing lane”"on Route 1A South at the Sumner Tunnel will open at 3 p.m and remain so until Tuesday morning.
• If you need a boost to get you through the drive back, 18 MassDOT service plazas will serve free coffee from 10 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.
• If you're taking the MBTA, know that all subway, commuter rails, trackless trolliers, ferries and boats will be on a Sunday schedule

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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