September 08, 2016
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
Vine Street Expressway, looking East from10th Street.
Philadelphia has been exposed once again as one of the most unsafe places to drive in the United States.
The City of Brotherly Love was ranked No. 188 out of the largest 200 U.S. cities, according to Allstate's 12th annual America's Best Drivers Report that was released last week. Philly moved up one slot from last year's rankings.
The data compiled by the auto insurance company includes the average time between claims and the rate of hard-braking events.
While the report showed that suburban drivers were generally safer than city drivers, the rankings factored in population density to account for big cities.
For example, New York ranked 143rd overall due to the high frequency of claims, but was considered the fourth safest place due to its densely-populated area.
Philadelphians submit claims every 6.3 years and are 57.8-percent more likely to do so than the average driver, Allstate said. In the Philly suburbs, drivers file claims every 9.5 years. The national average is once every 10 years.
Allstate also used data it collects from drivers on braking habits. The company defines "hard-braking events" as slowing down at least eight mph in one second.
In Philly, drivers experience those braking events 33 times every 1,000 miles. In the suburbs, the number is reduced to 21.4 times.
Madison, Wis., Brownsville, Texas, and Boise, Idaho, topped this year's list.
To read the full report, click here.
