NJ 12th Best State for Teen Drivers [AUDIO]

The summer season is the most popular time of year for teens to obtain their driver's licenses. It is also a dangerous time, as an average of 260 teen deaths result from car accidents during the summer months. There is good news for New Jersey, which ranks 12th-best in the nation for teen drivers, according to a new study by WalletHub.com.

The study looked at 16 factors including safety conditions, economic environment and driving laws that affect the overall driving conditions. It also examined the average cost of car repairs, the number of teen drivers in each state, impaired driving laws and teen driver fatalities.

"New Jersey's strengths come around safety and driving laws, but not around the metrics that have to do with economic environment like the average cost of a car repair or the increase you see in your car insurance premium when you add a teen driver to your plan," said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of WalletHub.com. "The cost of speeding tickets, red light tickets or those you receive for not wearing a seat belt are also not high enough, so they are less likely to deter the behavior that leads to 260 teens losing their lives during the summer months in car accidents."

According to the report, the following is how New Jersey ranked when it came to teen driving conditions:

• Tenth - Teen Driver Fatalities per Licensed Teen Drivers.
• Thirtieth - Number of Teen "Under the Influence" Traffic Violations per Licensed Teen Drivers.
• Twelfth - Impaired Driving Laws.
• First - Distracted-Driving/Texting-While-Driving Laws.
• Twenty-second - Premium Increase after Adding a Teen Driver to Your Auto Insurance.
• Eighth - Teen Drivers as a Percent of Total Drivers.
• Eleventh - Percent of Teen Population with Driver's Licenses.
• Forty-eighth - Quality of Roads.
• Fiftieth - Average Cost of Car Repairs

New York, Hawaii and Illinois were the top three safest states for teen drivers. Nebraska, Mississippi and South Dakota were at the bottom of the list.