Brownsville Named Safest Driving City in Texas

Brownsville once again tops the list as the safest driving city in Texas, according to the eighth annual “Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report” released by Allstate Insurance Company. The report, based on Allstate claims data, ranks America’s 200 largest cities in terms of car collision frequency to identify which cities have the safest drivers.

Brownsville ranked 25th nationwide, coming in ahead of last year’s top city in Texas, Laredo, which maintained its position at 28. Prior to 2011, Brownsville held the top spot for four straight years.

According to the report, the average driver in Brownsville will experience an auto collision every 11.4 years, compared to a national average of 10.0 years. Other Texas cities beating the national average include Laredo, McAllen, Amarillo and Lubbock.

This year’s top honor of “America’s Safest Driving City” is Sioux Falls, S.D., the fifth time in the history of the report that the city has held the top spot. According to the report, the average driver in Sioux Falls will experience an auto collision every 13.8 years, which is 27.6 percent less likely than the national average of 10 years.

Car crash fatalities are at the lowest level they’ve been since 1949, but still average more than 32,000 every year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

For the past eight years, Allstate actuaries have conducted an in-depth analysis of company claims data to determine the likelihood drivers in America’s 200 largest cities will experience a vehicle collision compared to the national average. Internal property damage reported claims were analyzed over a two-year period (from January 2009 to December 2010) to ensure the findings would not be impacted by external influences such as weather or road construction.

A weighted average of the two-year numbers determined the annual percentages. The report defines an auto crash as any collision resulting in a property damage claim. Allstate’s auto policies represent about 10 percent of all U.S. auto policies, making this report a realistic snapshot of what’s happening on America’s roadways.

Texas cities that appear in the report are ranked as follows:

Source: Allstate