This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Salt Lake City drivers crash more frequently than the national average and are sinking in national rankings, a new report says.
Meanwhile, West Valley City drivers are even more likely to crash, but their skills appear to be improving — and their ranking is climbing.
Salt Lake City drivers ranked No. 78 best among the nation's 200 largest cities for safety — down four spots from last year, according to Allstate Insurance's America's Best Drivers Report. West Valley City ranked No. 87 — but that was up eight spots from last year.
Allstate figured, based on crash data that it collects, that Salt Lakers will experience an auto collision every 9.5 years on average, compared to the national average of once every 10 years. That means Salt Lake City drivers are 5.3 percent more likely than average to be in a wreck.
For West Valley City, the study figures drivers will be in an accident once every 9.3 years, meaning they are 7.3 percent more likely than average to crash.
The safest large city for driving in America was Brownsville, Texas, where drivers are in collisions once every 14.5 years. The most dangerous large city for driving was Boston, where drivers are in crashes once every 3.7 years on average.
Allstate released separate rankings that show Salt Lake City area drivers actually may be worse than indicated.
When ratings are adjusted for rain and snow (most areas receive more precipitation than in the desert here), Salt Lake City ranked No. 88 and West Valley City ranked No. 96.
When ratings were adjusted for population density (many big cities are more crowded), Salt Lake City ranked No. 127 and West Valley City ranked No. 85.
Allstate also released data about how often drivers must hit the brakes hard — with figures collected from people who allow the company to monitor their driving habits to gain rewards on insurance rates.
It said Salt Lake City drivers had to slam the brakes about 17.8 times for every 1,000 miles driven, which was up from 15.2 times in last year's report.
In West Valley City, drivers slam the brakes hard 18.4 times in every 1,000 miles driven, up from 17.3 in last year's report.
The data comes just before July 4, which is the deadliest day of the year on the highways, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "The results of our report are an important reminder to put safety first while on the road," said Ryan Larson, an Allstate agency owner in Salt Lake City.
About 10 percent of all auto insurance policies nationally are written by Allstate, so the company says the report on its data gives a realistic snapshot of what's happening on America's roadways. It defined a collision as any auto crash resulting in a property damage claim.