Text in the City
As someone who has travelled quite extensively throughout the country on both business and pleasure, so many times I have been driving around and said, “Don’t people in this city know how to drive?!?!” Whether it is because of those who are texting and driving, or aggressively driving, or just trying to get home, it has become quite apparent to me firsthand that drivers in certain cities are just so much worse than in others.
Now, because my column is read in many cities and I do not want to make any enemies (the editor has told me many a time to “treat thy neighbor as thyself ”… did you ever hear Rodney Dangerfield’s version of this?) I will not divulge what cities I personally feel have the worst drivers; however, I will reveal what cities statistically have proved to be the world’s safest to drive in!
To begin with, fuggedaboudit if you live on the coast, no matter whether it is on the left side or the right, as this is not where the safest drivers live. Recently, Allstate released its “10th Annual Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report”, and according to their own data, they claim that six of the country’s safest cities for drivers are in what they refer to as “fly-over country”, to get to where you are going (years ago New Jersey used to be called that!). The closest city on the list to the coast was over two hundred miles away from the beach, and was located in CA: Visalia City (how many of you have been there?).
Mike Roche, Allstate’s Executive Vice President of Claims, stated that “A big part of our job at Allstate is to help our customers prevent bad things from happening. With that in mind, our actuaries reviewed millions of records to develop this year’s report which presents new data to equip them with better driving awareness tools. Allstate is showing drivers that factors like population, a city’s density and precipitation may contribute to their driving safety to reveal important lessons on the road. As a Colorado resident, I am especially proud to report that the nearby college town of Fort Collins, Colo. has been named “America’s Safest Driving City” for the fourth time by Allstate. This doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, as the city has been in the top 10 every year since the report’s inception, but it is still impressive nonetheless.”
Drivers in the city of Fort Collins, Colo., will experience an auto collision once in every 14.2 years, according to the Allstate report. This proves to be 29.6% less likely than the national average of one in every 10 years.
So here is our “Top Ten List” of the safest cities to drive in within the United States:
- Olathe, KS
Experience an auto collision every 12.1 years, 17.5% less likely than the national average
- Madison, Wis.
Experience an auto collision every 12.2 years, 17.8% less likely than the national average
- Laredo, Texas
Experience an auto collision every 12.2 years, 18.3% less likely than the national average
- Visalia, Calif.
Experience an auto collision every 12.4 years, 19.1% less likely than the national average
- Montgomery, Ala.
Experience an auto collision every 12.4 years, 19.4% less likely than the national average
- Huntsville, Ala.
Experience an auto collision every 12.6 years, 20.3% less likely than the national average
- Kansas City, Kas.
Experience an auto collision every 12.9 years, 22.4% less likely than the national average
- Boise, Idaho Experience an auto collision every 14 years, 28.4% less likely than the national average
- Brownsville, Texas
Experience an auto collision every 14.2 years, 29.5% less likely than the national average
…and the number one safest city in the United States to drive in is:
- Fort Collins, Colo.
Experience an auto collision every 14.2 years, 29.6% less likely than the national average
Well, that’s what’s happening around the country, and until next time when we will be talking about Syracuse I Day, the Massachusetts Big Insurance Event, and a few others, “Ciao for now!”
