NORTHBROOK, Ill., Aug. 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With
Labor Day ahead and back-to-school traffic adding to road congestion, Allstate's 2016 America's
Best Drivers Report®i reveals motorists in certain cities are safer drivers when navigating the gridlock,
and their suburban counterparts frequently perform better. The report finds that when factoring population density, together with
the frequency of auto property damage claims, Madison, Wisconsin, has the safest
drivers.
"As people look forward to Labor Day trips, hurry to get children to class on time and
take care of many other needs, we urge drivers to always exercise caution," said Glenn Shapiro,
Allstate's chief claims officer. "Americans are spending more time behind the wheel, leading to more collisions, rising roadway
costs and potentially deadly outcomes."
The 10 safest-driving cities, when factoring auto property damage claims with population density, are:
Safest Drivers Rank with
Population Density
|
City
|
1
|
Madison, Wis.
|
2
|
Brownsville, Texas
|
3
|
Boise, Idaho
|
4
|
New York, N.Y.
|
5
|
Milwaukee, Wis.
|
6
|
Wichita, Kan.
|
7
|
Hialeah, Fla.
|
8
|
McAllen, Texas
|
9
|
Olathe, Kan.
|
10
|
Lincoln, Neb.
|
Additionally, Allstate uncovered new data on how city drivers compare to their suburban counterparts. With less
population density, suburban drivers tend to get into collisions less frequently and experience fewer hard-braking events –
defined as slowing down eight miles per hour or more over a one-second period:
|
-City-
Average Years
Between Claims
|
-City-
Hard-Braking
Events per
1,000 Milesii
|
-Suburbs-
Average Years
Between Claims
|
-Suburbs-
Hard-Braking
Events per
1,000 Miles
|
Madison, Wis.
|
13.3
|
9.0
|
17.3
|
7.4
|
Brownsville, Texas
|
14.6
|
N/A
|
15.4
|
N/A
|
Boise, Idaho
|
12.8
|
11.6
|
13.5
|
10.1
|
New York, N.Y.
|
8.3
|
25.6
|
9.9
|
21.8
|
Milwaukee, Wis.
|
10.6
|
13.0
|
14.5
|
9.9
|
Wichita, Kan.
|
12.5
|
11.1
|
15.8
|
9.5
|
Hialeah, Fla.
|
9.5
|
24.4
|
9.5
(In the Miami/Fort
Lauderdale/West
Palm Beach
Area)
|
20.7
(In the Miami/Fort
Lauderdale/West
Palm Beach
Area)
|
McAllen, Texas
|
12.0
|
N/A
|
13.7
|
N/A
|
Olathe, Kan.
|
12.4
|
13.2
|
13.3
(In the Kansas
City Area)
|
10.9
(In the Kansas
City Area)
|
Lincoln, Neb.
|
11.6
|
11.7
|
N/Aiii
|
N/A
|
Visit www.allstate.com/BestDriversReport for complete 2016 results.
"With more people and more traffic, we would expect drivers in cities to experience more crashes," said Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "Still, suburban drivers need to be
vigilant on the roads. With higher speeds in these areas, serious injuries are more likely when crashes occur."
The U.S. Department of Transportation says that from March 2015 to February 2016 Americans drove 3.15 trillion miles, an increase of more than 3 percent over the previous 12
months and the largest year-to-year increase in over two decades.iv According to the National Safety
Council, more than 38,000 roadway fatalities occurred last year, the highest count since
2008.v
Allstate's report reinforces its commitment to making roads safer. Using property damage claims reported between
January 2013 and December 2014, the report ranks America's top 200
cities by estimated auto property damage claim frequency, to determine which have the safest drivers. When just considering auto
property claim frequency, Madison, Wisconsin, comes in third, behind Brownsville, Texas, and Kansas City, Kansas, in first and second place
respectively.
The report also provides insight into braking habits in more than 100 cities across the country, using hard-braking data
culled from Allstate's Drivewise® offering, an innovative technology that enables consumers to monitor their driving
habits to improve safety and gain rewards on their insurance.
Allstate offers the following tips, to help drivers avoid collisions and hard-braking events:
- Minimize distractions while driving. Distracted driving is one of the main causes of
collisions.vi Common driving distractions include eating, grooming, talking on a cell phone or texting,
interacting with other passengers, adjusting navigation devices and playing loud music.
- Leave room between you and other vehicles. Hard-braking collisions can occur when drivers are
following other cars too closely, causing a rear-end collision. Try to avoid rear-end collisions by leaving more space and time
to react to other vehicles' actions.
- Allow plenty of time to reach your destination. Stop-and-go traffic, gridlock, traffic signal
stops, pedestrian walkways and events that create traffic detours can add time to your travel.
- Stay alert. Be prepared to frequently stop or slow down for pedestrians, emergency vehicles,
delivery trucks, parking cars, taxi cabs and public transportation vehicles such as city buses.
About Allstate
The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:
ALL) is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer, protecting approximately 16 million households from life's
uncertainties through auto, home, life and other insurance offered through its Allstate,
Esurance, Encompass
and Answer Financial
brand names. Now celebrating its 85th anniversary as an insurer, Allstate is widely known through the slogan "You're
In Good
Hands With Allstate®." Allstate agencies are in virtually every local community in America. In 2015,
The Allstate Foundation, Allstate, its employees and agency owners gave $36 million to
support local communities.
i The Allstate America's Best Drivers Report® tabulates property damage
frequency of Allstate insured drivers from 2013-2014. The report analyzes the 200 largest cities from the U.S. Census Bureau's
Annual Estimates of the Population for Incorporated Places over 50,000, measured for 2014 as of July 1,
2015. In prior years, neighboring cities that shared zip codes also shared rankings. This only impacted a minimal number
of cities; however, since 2014, the report used geolocation to increase accuracy and there are no longer shared rankings. U.S.
Census Bureau estimates of land area were combined with population estimates to determine population density. The Allstate Best
Drivers Report is produced solely to boost the country's discussion about safe driving and to increase awareness of the
importance of being safe and attentive behind the wheel. The report is not used to determine auto insurance rates.
ii Hard-braking data for cities and their surrounding suburbs is based on information
from customers voluntarily enrolled in Allstate's Drivewise® telematics program from 2010-2015. Areas with limited
measurable data, or where Drivewise was unavailable (California, North
Carolina, South Carolina and Texas), are
excluded.
iii Suburban areas with less than 100 auto property damage claims reported between
January 2013 and December 2014 have their property damage claim
frequencies excluded from the data set.
iv 2016, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway
Administration, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/travel_monitoring/16febtvt/page2.cfm
v 2016, National Safety Council Motor Vehicle Fatality Estimate, http://www.nsc.org/Connect/NSCNewsReleases/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=103&var=hp4
vi National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, www.distraction.gov
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SOURCE Allstate Insurance Company