Allstate’s Top 10 Safest Driving Cities During Wet Weather

allstate___americas_best_drivers_reportAs New Year’s Day, one of the deadliest days on the road, approaches, Allstate’s America’s Best Drivers Report reveals motorists in certain cities are safer drivers when making their way through winter weather road hazards. Allstate’s report finds that when factoring precipitation with auto property damage claim frequency, Brownsville, Texas, has the safest drivers.

“As you wrap up the busy holiday season and look forward to ringing in 2017, please use extra caution, especially on dangerous evenings when hazards like drunk drivers and winter weather are prevalent,” said Glenn Shapiro, Allstate’s chief claims officer. “While celebrating this joyful time, it’s important to remember what matters most – our loved ones and neighbors – and to protect them by driving carefully through precarious conditions on the roads.”

Allstate discovered the following are the top 10 safest-driving cities, when factoring auto property damage claims with precipitation, as measured by NOAA:

Safest Drivers

Rank with

Precipitation

City NOAA Average

Precipitation

(inches/year)

Average Years

Between

Collisions

Accident
Likelihood
(Compared to
national average
of every 10
years)
1 Brownsville, Texas 27.4 14.6 -31.4%
2 Kansas City, Kan. 39.1 13.6 -26.3%
3 Cape Coral, Fla. 55.9 12.9 -22.3%
4 Madison, Wis. 37.3 13.3 -24.7%
5 Port St. Lucie, Fla. 63.7 12.5 -20.1%
6 Huntsville, Ala. 54.3 12.7 -21.4%
7 Olathe, Kan. 41.9 12.4 -19.6%
8 Wichita, Kan. 32.6 12.5 -19.7%
9 Boise, Idaho 11.7 12.8 -22.1%
10 Springfield, Mo. 45.6 11.8 -15.4%

“Wintry weather creates hazards as we go about our holiday errands and get-togethers, but it’s also important to recognize that the year-round problem of drinking and driving spikes on New Year’s Day,” said Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “Jan. 1 is the deadliest day on the road for crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver, pedestrian or bicyclist. It’s also the deadliest day of the year for passenger vehicle occupants. If you’re celebrating with alcohol over the holidays, make the proper arrangements ahead of time to get home safely. And buckle up on every trip as more traffic brings more crashes of all kinds.”

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 Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 35,000 roadway fatalities occurred last year, the highest count since 2008.

Using property damage claims reported between January 2013 and December 2014, the report ranks America’s largest 200 cities by auto property damage claim frequency, to determine which cities have the safest drivers. Brownsville, Texas, also tops the list – followed by Kansas City, Kan., and Madison, Wis., in second and third respectively – when just considering claim frequency without precipitation.

Allstate’s 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.vi

Visit www.allstate.com/BestDriversReport for complete 2016 results.