What Cities Have the Safest Drivers? Insurer Releases Rankings

When it comes to safe drivers and the chances of getting into a car accident, where does your city rank? Allstate Insurance has released its yearly profile on the likelihood of traffic accidents in major U.S. cities, based on company data.

The fifth annual Allstate America's Best Drivers Report, released today by the insurance company, "ranks America's 200 largest cities in terms of car collision frequency to identify which cities have the safest drivers" in comparison with national averages, and also spotlights cities with the largest marked improvements in driver safety, according to an Allstate News Release.

Here's a closer look at Allstate's rankings of cities with the safest drivers:

• Alexandria, Virginia was ranked "America's Most Improved Driving City" by Allstate. The average driver in Alexandria will have one car crash every 7.2 years, up from one every 5.4 years, according to the insurer.
• Sioux Falls, S.D. was ranked as the overall safest driving city in the U.S., with a collision likelihood 26.1 percent lower than the national average.
• Rounding out the overall top five of safest driving city (after Sioux Falls) were Fort Collins, CO; Chattanooga, TN; Cedar Rapids, IA; and Knoxville, TN.
• Phoenix, AZ was ranked as the safest of all U.S. cities with a population over one million, with an average of 9.2 years between collisions per driver.

Earlier this week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released some good nationwide news on driving safety. 2008 saw a 9.7 percent drop in the number of people killed in motor vehicle accidents in the U.S. -- 37,261 in 2008, down from 41,259 fatalities in 2007. That's the lowest number of car accident fatalities since 1961, and the decline in fatalities is the largest since 1982 in terms of both number and percentage, according to the NHTSA.

• Fifth Annual "Allstate America's Best Drivers Report" Reveals Which Cities Have the Safest Drivers (AllstateNewsroom.com)
• NHTSA: Fatal Car Accidents Hit Record Low in 2008 (FindLaw's Injured)
• Auto Insurance Claim Do's and Don'ts (provided by Duffield, Lovejoy & Stemple)
• Driving Safety (FindLaw)
• Car Accidents and the Law (FindLaw)