Allstate unveils cities with the safest drivers

(August 30, 2016) NORTHBROOK, Ill. — With Labor Day ahead and back-to-school traffic adding to road congestion, Allstate's 2016 America's Best Drivers Report 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, Wis., 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 ro
adway costs and potentially deadly outcomes."

"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.

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 pr
operty 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.