U.S. drivers in population-dense areas have a greater risk of being involved in a car accident. Nowhere is this truer than in Massachusetts.
The cities of Worscester, Boston and Springfield ranked in the bottom five of Allstate Insurance Company's Best Drivers Report in America. The Massachusetts locations were joined by Washington D.C. at third worst and Providence, Rhode Island at fifth worst.
Fort Collins, Colorado received "America's Safest Driving City" top honor for the fourth time in the report's 10-year history (the city has placed in the top 10 every year). Fort Collins drivers were 29.6 percent less likely to be in a collision compared to the national average. The average Fort Collins driver willl experience a collision every 14.2 years.
New York, the nation's most-populous city, ranked 155th overall. It did better than Los Angeles at 188th, but fared worse than Chicago at 139th.
"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," Allstate said in a news release.
Allstate ranked America's 200 largest cities in terms of car collision frequency to determine the country's safest driving cities. The company analyzed internal property damage claims filed between January 2011 and December 2012 for the most recent report.
"A big part of our job at Allstate is to help our customers prevent bad things from happening," said Mike Roche, Allstate executive vice president of claims. "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."
More than 34,000 people died in a motor vehicle accident in 2012, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Allstate's research found that 70 percent of the vehicles in their auto claims were considered drivable. The drivers in these accidents were most likely traveling at speeds less than 35 miles per hour.
Allstate sells 10 percent of all U.S. auto policies. It began offering coverage to Massachusetts drivers in 2009.
