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People in everywhere, including Baltimore, complain their city has the worst drivers. Can’t be true, of course.
Except in Charm City, we’re not exaggerating. Okay, Washington, D.C., it turns out beats us here, which is fine, for once, but we’re a close second. (Having lived in both cities, my guess is that foreign drivers with diplomatic immunity drive D.C’s numbers up.)
The eighth annual “Allstate America's Best Drivers Report," based on Allstate claims data, ranks the 195 largest U.S. cities in terms of car collision frequency, identifying cities with the safest — and not so safest —drivers. Washington crashes in at No. 195; Baltimore at No. 194. According to All State’s data, the average Baltimore driver goes 5.3 years between collisions, and is 87.9 percent more likely to collide and cause damage than the average driver in the U.S.
Philadelphia (No. 190), Newark, N.J. (No. 188), Los Angeles (No. 182) and New York City (176) drivers all suffer fewer collisions than we do.
Not surprisingly, the courteous, slower-paced folks in the Midwest have fewer car accidents. Sioux Falls, S.D.; Boise, Idaho; Fort Collins, Co.; Madison, Wi.; and Lincoln, Ne.; rank No. 1 through No. 5, respectively, in safe driving. Drivers in Sioux Falls, for example, and the other top-ranked cities typically go an average of 13 years between collisions.
In cities of more than 1 million people, drivers in Phoenix, San Diego, San Antonio, Chicago and Houston all out perform Charm City vehicle operators, averaging eight years between collisions.
The All State report based their findings on two-year numbers and defines an auto crash "as any collision resulting in a property damage claim." Allstate's auto policies, they note, "represent about 10 percent of all U.S. auto policies, making this report a realistic snapshot of what's happening on America's roadways.”
