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Hartford Ranks Fifth Worst City In Safe Driver Report

Julie Stagis

September 08, 2010

Hartford drivers are among the most unsafe in the nation, and drivers who live in New Haven are getting worse, according to a new Allstate Insurance report released Tuesday.

The sixth annual Allstate America's Best Drivers Report ranks Hartford drivers at 189 out of 193 cities ranked, with the average Hartford driver getting into a collision every 6.3 years, according to a press release from the company. Hartford drivers were 59.4 percent more likely to be involved in a crash than the national average.

The city's ranking was a slight improvement from last year's report, in which Hartford was the fourth-worst city. New Haven's ranking slid a whopping 24 spots, from 155th to 179th, or 14th worst.

New Haven's drivers average a collision every 7.2 years, according to the release. Last year's report showed a collision every 7.9 years, on average, for New Haven drivers.

New Haven drivers were 38.9 percent more likely to have a collision than the national average. Bridgeport drivers ranked at 158th, with an average of 7.8 years between accidents, according to the release. They are only 28.4 percent more likely to crash than the national average.

"We don't want drivers in Hartford or New Haven to be discouraged by their ranking," Allstate spokesman Chris Conner said in the release. "Instead, we want the report to challenge drivers in both cities to make positive changes to their driving habits that will in turn make these cities a safer place to live, work and raise families."

The top honor of "America's Safest Driving City" went to Fort Collins, Colo., where drivers average a crash every 14.5 years, according to the release. Drivers there are 31.2 percent less likely than the national average to have an accident.

Only Newark, N.J., Glendale, Calif., Baltimore, Md., and Washington D.C. ranked lower than Hartford.

Actuaries at the company analyze company claims data every year to determine the likelihood of drivers in the country's 200 largest cities being in a collision compared with the national average, Conner said.

The numbers are based on claims reported by drivers whose cars are registered in each city and the number of vehicles insured in the state, Conner said. Actuaries then develop frequency figures to find the number of years the average driver in a city will go without having an accident.

Allstate uses a weighted average of the numbers from January of one year to December of the next year to make sure the numbers aren't affected by external conditions, he said.

"Allstate's auto policies represent about 11 percent of all U.S. auto policies, making this report a realistic snapshot of what's happening on America's roadways," Conner said.

Any collision resulting in a property damage claim is considered a crash for the report.