Is Your City Full of Lousy Drivers?

When I lived in Boston, I felt like I was taking my life in my hands every time I crossed the street. I didn't own a car, but when I drove with people who did, or took the occasional taxi home from work late at night, I often white-knuckled it all the way. I'm certain that when you register your car in the city limits, you are required to disable your directionals. Forget defensive driving – some of these people are out for points.

And when Allstate put out its yearly "best drivers" list (designed to reward safe, attentive driving and spark discussion about auto safety), I was shocked that Boston didn't even appear. According to the fine print of the report, cities in Massachusetts for some reason were excluded from the data. Don’t know why; maybe it would have skewed the study off the charts. I’m still waiting for an answer from Allstate.

But I wasn't surprised that the Baltimore/Washington corridor was rated as having the worst drivers in America. I've driven around that area and it's freaking scary. A friend who used to live there and commuted around the Beltway once told me that people would come up behind you and bump you, for the insurance money if you were lucky, and to rob you, if you weren't.

Now that we are in the belly of summer vacation season, with more people driving and flying, it could be handy to know what you're getting into. And where you should be on your guard.

Rounding out the bottom 10 are Glendale CA, Hartford, Ct (ironically, the home of many insurance companies, but not Allstate), Newark, NJ (for those who live there and those who have driven there, this should come as no surprise), Philadelphia, PA, Elizabeth, NJ, Providence, RI, San Francisco, CA, and, again, no surprise -- Los Angeles, CA.

The city that Allstate recognized as having the best drivers? Sioux Falls, SD. If anyone out there lives there, maybe you could clue us in. Making the top 10 are also Fort Collins, CO, Chattanooga, TN, Cedar Rapids, IA, Knoxville, TN, Fort Wayne, IN, Lexington-Fayette, KY, Eugene, OR, Boise, ID, and Colorado Springs, CO. Again, if you live in or near the cities, or have driven through them, let us know what it is about these areas that inspires the best driving.

Want to know where your city stacks up? Check here.

What do you think? Do these “bottom ten” deserve to be on the wall of shame? Any examples you’ve seen of exemplary, pathetic or even dangerous driving when you’ve been out and about?

(Note: the study was designed to rank America’s top 200 cities according to accident rates, and reward the cities with the safest drivers (they only studied Allstate customers.) The most improved city (this year, Alexandria, VA) was given free gas giveaways.)