Drivers in Honolulu rank among the top 30 percent accident-prone motorists in the U.S., according to an annual ranking of the nation’s 200 biggest urban areas, according to Allstate Corp.
Honolulu ranks 140th with drivers having a collision every 8.2 years on average. This makes them 22 percent more likely to have an accident than the national average.
This compares with last year’s ranking of 128th with a collision every 8.7 years on average.
Drivers in Boston and Worcester, Mass., are the riskiest in the U.S. Worcester’s drivers have a collision every 4.3 years on average, while motorists in Boston go 4.4 years between crashes, the Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer said Tuesday in a report. Washington, D.C., which had finished last in six straight Allstate reports, was third-worst with drivers there having a wreck every 5.1 years.
Fort Collins, Colo., led the ranking for safety a fourth time and has placed in the top 10 every year, Allstate said. Its motorists average 14.2 years between collisions, a rate that makes them 29.6 percent less likely to crash than the national average.
Allstate, the largest publicly traded U.S. auto and home insurer, analyzes its claim data to come up with the annual rankings to emphasize safe-driving habits. The report included data from January 2011 to December 2012. A weighted average of the two-year numbers determines the annual percentages. The report defines an auto crash as any collision resulting in a property damage claim.
"Pedestrians, emergency vehicles, delivery trucks, parking cars, taxicabs and public-transportation vehicles such as city buses" are among the potential obstacles facing drivers in urban locations, Allstate said in a statement.
Massachusetts cities hadn’t been included in Allstate’s report in recent years because the insurer didn’t sell policies there. The company, which sells about 10 percent of U.S. auto policies, began offering the coverage again in Massachusetts in 2009, after exiting the state’s market in 1989. Allstate has conducted the studies for 10 years.
New York, the nation’s most populous city, was 155th for safety with accidents occurring every 7.8 years. Los Angeles ranked 188th, and Chicago was 139th.
Seventy percent of vehicles involved in claims reviewed by Allstate were still drivable, indicating the collisions occurred at speeds of less than 35 miles an hour, the insurer said.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
The five safest and five riskiest cities for driving:
CITY |
AVERAGE YEARS BETWEEN COLLISIONS |
COLLISION LIKELIHOOD VS. NATIONAL AVERAGE |
|
FIVE SAFEST |
1. Fort Collins, Colo. |
14.2 |
29.6% less likely |
2. Brownsville, Texas |
14.2 |
29.5% less likely |
3. Boise, Idaho |
14.0 |
28.4% less likely |
4. Kansas City, Mo. |
12.9 |
22.4% less likely |
5. Huntsville, Ala. |
12.6 |
20.3% less likely |
FIVE RISKIEST |
200. Worcester, Mass. |
4.3 |
134.8% more likely |
199. Boston |
4.4 |
129.9% more likely |
198. Washington, D.C. |
5.1 |
97.3% more likely |
197. Springfield, Mass. |
5.4 |
85.8% more likely |
196. Providence, R.I. |
5.4 |
85.1% more likely |
140. Honolulu |
8.2 |
22.0% more likely |
Source: Allstate Corp.