SEATTLE — Yes, you read that headline right — a recent study ranked Seattle-area drivers among the best in the nation.
Allstate Insurance’s annual America’s Best Drivers Report ranked our gleaming Emerald City third best in the country for safe drivers, behind Honolulu and Minneapolis, and right above Portland.
But in the past decade, this same study repeatedly ranked Seattle one of the worst cities for drivers. How did the tide turn so fast? Did everyone retake driver’s ed and suddenly learn how to zipper merge or decode the complexities of a four-way stop?
A change in methodology of the study, which Allstate has conducted since 2005, makes all the difference.
This year’s study analyzed driving habits — using phones while behind the wheel, going over 80 mph and hard braking (defined as decelerating more than 7 mph in a second) — in the 100 most populous U.S. urban areas to determine which cities had the safest drivers, and which did not.
Arity, which is owned by Allstate and collects data through optional safe driving features in the insurance company’s mobile app, provided figures for this year’s study.
In past years, the study analyzed Allstate insurance claims data to determine the likelihood drivers in America’s 200 largest cities would experience a car crash compared to the national average.
The change in methodology helps educate the public about common risky driving practices, said Katie Irey, Allstate senior vice president.
“Speeding, distracted and impaired driving cause tens of thousands of preventable deaths on U.S. roads each year,” Irey said.
Seattle-area drivers ranked fifth in the country for drivers traveling at safer, slower speeds, joining other Pacific Northwest cities like Spokane and Portland, according to the study.
Using phones less
The Seattle area also joined a trend of West Coast metros where drivers used their phone less, ranking sixth in the nation, according to the study. Drivers in San Jose, Calif.; San Diego; San Francisco; Las Vegas; and Portland also ranked high for not using their smartphones while on the road.
The Seattle area ranked 22nd for avoiding hard braking.
The Evergreen State even boasts another city on this year’s ranking of cities with the safest drivers: Spokane, whose drivers ranked as seventh safest.
Drivers in three California metros (Stockton, Fresno and the Temecula area); Baton Rouge, La.; and Albuquerque, N.M., ranked the riskiest in the country.
Allstate’s 2019 study, the last one done before this year and based on insurance claims from 2016 to 2017, ranked Seattle 155th out of 200 cities for safest drivers in the country. Tacoma ranked 149th, and Bellevue ranked 132nd.
Seattle drivers on average went 7.7 years between collisions and were 37.4 percent more likely to get into a crash compared to the national mean. The 2019 study also noted how many times drivers hard braked in 1,000 miles, with Seattle drivers doing so 20.6 times.
For reference, drivers in Brownsville, Texas, 2019’s safest city, had an average of nearly 15 years between collisions.
In 2018, Seattle ranked even worse, at 179 out of 200 cities.
