johnnymk

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news...rs-report.html

Philadelphia and surrounding areas are unsafe for drivers. The city and its four surrounding counties is the sixth-worst place to drive in the United States.

A two-year study by Allstate Insurance Co. concludes that Philadelphia and its four surrounding counties are home to some of the worst drivers in the nation.

Allstate released its fifth annual "America's Best Drivers Report," which ranks America's 193 largest cities, said Allstate spokeswoman Meredith Joseph.

This year, Philadelphia and its suburbs ranked sixth worst in terms of unsafe driving. Last year, the region ranked seventh worst in the nation.

Philadelphia ranked dead last among the nation's 10 largest cities, Joseph said.

Among all cities of 1 million or more residents, the worst city in traffic safety is Washington, D.C., Joseph said. The safest city is Sioux Falls, S.D.

The other cities with a worse ranking than Philadelphia are in order: Washington; Baltimore; Glendale, Calif.; Hartford, Conn.; and Newark.

The first question on your mind may be, "Will my insurance rates go up?"

No, Joseph said, the report is not used to determine rates.

"The study's intent is to start a discussion on poor driving habits. There is no concrete single reason to say why Philadelphia ranks so poorly, but some of the factors include poor infrastructure and individual driver's poor habits," she said.

Advertisement She said researchers studied collisions and population to make their determination.

According to their conclusions, the average driver in Philadelphia will be involved in an automobile crash every 6.4 years, a slight decrease of 0.2 percent from 2008. More sobering is that Philadel-phia area drivers are 57 percent more likely than the national average to experience a crash.

Despite our terrible driving, an Allstate official says don't sweat it.

"We don't want drivers in Philadelphia to be discouraged by this ranking. Instead, we hope the report will challenge Philadelphia drivers to make positive changes to their driving habits that, in turn, will make the city a safer place to live, work and raise families," said Brett Ludwig, Allstate corporate relations manager.

He added that human error is the largest cause of accidents and urges everyone to be alert and tolerant while behind the wheel.

PennDOT spokesman Charles Metzger said the report is not "100 percent" accurate.

"We have numerous education programs about safe driving in place. We have the DriveSafePA Web site and teach people not to drive aggressively. Driver behavior is driver behavior. If someone decides they feel safe driving 100 mph on Street Road, they are going to do it, even if at the detriment to other drivers and themselves," he said.