Allstate America recently released its annual report of America’s Best Drivers. In that report, it uses car collision data to rank the 200 largest cities in America in terms of safe driving. The drivers in Chicago placed 150th out of 200. The size of the city is clearly an issue, however. Among cities with populations greater than one million, Chicago placed 4th out of 9. According to Allstate’s data, Chicago drivers experience an accident once every eight years, with the national average being one accident per decade.
The safest city in America for drivers was Fort Collins, Colorado. Drivers in Fort Collins were 28.2 percent less likely to get into an accident than the average driver. Chicago drivers were 25.2 percent more likely to get into an accident than the average driver. In the most dangerous driving city in the United States, Washington D.C., drivers were 109.3 percent more likely to suffer an accident.
Not all accidents are alike. Allstate’s accident claim data revealed that 70 percent of the vehicles involved in an incident were still considered drivable. That likely means that they were involved in relatively low speed collisions. The frequency of these low speed collisions may explain why no cities with large populations finished in the top 70 safest driving cities.
In better news, Rockford, Illinois improved its position as the safest driving city in Illinois by improving its ranking from 35th safest city to 28th safest in the U.S. In other notable results, Joliet, Illinois, finished in 47th, Aurora, Illinois, placed 96th, and Naperville, Illinois finished in 106th.
Source: ABC 7 News, “Chicago ranked 150th safest city for driving: Allstate,” 29 August 2013
