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Insurance company says Boise drivers among nation's safest

The next time you see cars parked on the interstate after a rear-end collision in the Treasure Valley or vehicles entwined at an intersection you can take comfort that it doesn’t happen more often. In fact, only two other medium-sized cities in the U.S. have better drivers than those in the Boise area, according to a national insurance company.

Allstate Insurance Co. – those people with the good hands -- rank Boise drivers third-best among the nation's largest 200 cities and indicate they will drive much longer than other motorists without being involved in a crash. Boise drivers improved from ninth in the 2009 list.

“For the sixth year, Allstate is releasing the Allstate America’s Best Driver’s Report to facilitate an ongoing dialogue on safe driving,” said Mike Roche, senior vice president for Allstate’s Claim Organization. “We also want to recognize the city of Fort Collins (Colo.) for being the safest driving city in America, and we salute all of America’s safe drivers, who help make our communities better places to live, work and raise families.”

The insurance company’s actuaries have conducted an in-depth analysis of company claim data to determine the likelihood drivers in America’s 200 largest cities will experience a vehicle collision compared to the national average. Internal property damage report claims were analyzed over a two-year period (January 2007 to December 2008) to ensure the findings would not be impacted by external influences such as weather or road conditions, according to the report.

According to the report, Boise drivers are 22.3 percent less likely to become involved in a vehicle crash, and they can expect to drive nearly 13 years between collisions.

Chattanooga, Tenn., ranked just ahead of Boise in the odds of becoming involved in a crash, but had the identical projection of 12.9 years between events.

The worst place for drivers – and consequently the best place for tow-truck businesses? Newark, N.J. was 190th, while Glendale, Calif., (191st), Baltimore (192) and Washington, D.C. (193rd) were on the bottom. The last three were unchanged since te previous year.