Cary Ranks As Top 20 Safe Driving Town as Collisions Increase Nationwide

Cary, NC – As studies show fatal car accidents on the rise nationwide, Cary ranks as one of the safest places to drive in a new study by Allstate, with the average Cary driver getting into a collision fewer than once every 10 years.

14th Safest Driving City

In the study by Allstate, the top 200 most populous towns and cities were ranked based on collision frequency and the number of years in between collisions on average. The national average is one collision every 10 years and in Cary, the average driver has a collision once every 10.8 years. However, this isn’t enough to get Cary into the top 10 safest cities and towns, with #10 McAllen, Texas having an average of 11.5 years in between collisions.

This is the same ranking Cary had in the 2017 study, although it has jumped around over the years, ranking 16th in 2016, 10th in 2015 and 24th in 2014.

Also, when controlling for population density, Cary ranks 12th out of the 200 municipalities studied.

The next-closest North Carolina city in the ranking is Winston-Salem at 28th. The safest city in the ranking is Brownsville, Texas and the least safe is Baltimore, Maryland.

Avoiding Collisions

Part of this Allstate study also looks at the frequency of hard-brakking events, defined as “slowing down eight miles per hour or more over a one-second period.” According to Allstate, too many hard-brakking events indicates unsafe driving practices such as being distracted or following a car too closely and the study tracked the number of hard-brakking events per 1,000 miles in select cities. While Cary was not in this part of the study, this is a good indication of driving behavior to avoid in order to prevent future collisions.

As this study comes out, reports are also circulating showing car accidents, particularly fatal car accidents, are on the rise nationwide. In both 2016 and 2017, fatal traffic deaths rose, increasing 6 percent in 2017. In fact, according to the National Safety Council, 2017 was the first year in a decade where more than 40,000 people died in car accidents in a single year. Part of this may be because Americans are reportedly driving more than past years, as more cars on the road means a higher likelihood of accidents.

Story by staff reports. Photos by Hal Goodtree.