As Roadway Fatalities Rise, Allstate Unveils the Cities With The Safest Drivers When Population Density is Part of the Equation

Read Time:6 Minute, 21 Second

By Allstate Insurance Company, Special for USDR

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.

Allstate’s 12th annual America’s Best Drivers Report uncovers how safely drivers in the largest 200 U.S. cities navigate roadways compared to motorists in the surrounding suburbs.

Allstate's 2016 America's Best Drivers Report shows which of the 200 largest U.S. cities have the safest drivers when factoring auto property damage claims with population density. — Allstate’s 2016 America’s Best Drivers Report shows which of the 200 largest U.S. cities have the safest drivers when factoring auto property damage claims with population density.

Sound bites and b-roll for Allstate's 2016 America's Best Drivers Report — Sound bites and b-roll for Allstate’s 2016 America’s Best Drivers Report

Allstate logo.

“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.^ivAccording 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.

ⁱThe 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.
ⁱⁱHard-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.
ⁱⁱⁱSuburban 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.
^iv2016, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration,http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/travel_monitoring/16febtvt/page2.cfm
^v2016, 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