Michigan appears to hold a less-than-enviable position on the list of America's riskiest drivers with two of its cities, Detroit and Grand Rapids, ranking low according to Allstate's "America's Best Drivers Report." Detroit came in at number 85 while Grand Rapids landed at 92 out of the 100 cities surveyed. Allstate, drawing data from the telematics company Arity, based these rankings on behaviors such as hard braking, high-speed driving, and phone usage while on the road, according to MetroTimes.
The study, which aimed to not just identify but also to bring awareness to the patterns that could potentially reduce accidents, found that speeding and hard braking were the predominant issues in Detroit. As reported by WOOD TV, Grand Rapids drivers were notably frequent in high-speed driving, particularly over 80 mph. In contrast, Detroit's residents seem better at not using cell phones while driving, a small beacon of hope in an otherwise critical report.
Meanwhile, other parts of the Midwest showed more promising rankings. Madison, Cleveland, Des Moines, Minneapolis, and St. Louis are all in the top 10 for that hard braking category, according to data cited by WOOD TV. The study also pointed out that drivers in Western cities like San Jose and Seattle are more likely to keep their phones aside while driving.
But it's not all bad news for Michigan's motorists. The data pointed out by MetroTimes revealed that Detroit ranked "relatively high for minimal phone usage while driving." This indicates that while some driving habits need major adjustments, others should simply be maintained and even modeled.
The findings from the Allstate report correlate with grimmer statistics like those from a Consumer Reports study on the cities with the highest rate of deadly car accidents. Bad driving seems to follow through to the most extreme of consequences, a reminder that mundane daily habits can spiral to tragic outcomes. Consumer Affairs using U.S. Dept. of Transportation fatality data from 2021 identified cities such as Memphis, Baton Rouge, and Albuquerque as having the highest per capita rates of deadly crashes caused by risky driving behaviors..
