Salt Lake drivers rank a sorry 77th in driving safety

You may want to be extra careful if you're driving in the Salt Lake City area this holiday weekend.

A new report from Allstate Insurance Co. shows that Salt Lake drivers are more likely to experience an auto accident than other drivers nationwide.

The 2006 America's Best Drivers report released this week revealed that the average Salt Lake driver will experience a vehicle collision every 9.6 years, making them 4.4 percent more likely to have an accident than the national crash rate of every 10 years.

Salt Lake City was 77th among 197 U.S. cities ranked on the safety of their drivers, falling from the No. 64 spot in 2005.

Drivers in Sioux Falls, S.D., ranked as the safest drivers in the U.S., as they were 30.2 percent less likely to experience a collision compared to the national average. Newark, N.J., had the worst drivers. Drivers in Newark experienced a collision on average every five years.

The study defined an auto crash as any collision resulting in a property damage claim. Allstate analyzed internal property damage reported claims over a two-year period — from January 2003 to December 2004 — to ensure the findings would not be affected by external influences such as weather or road construction. A weighted average of the two-year numbers determined the annual percentages. Allstate insures more than 319,000 vehicles in Utah.

The report noted that exceeding the speed limit was one of the most common causes of accidents. Talking on cell phones and changing the radio station also contributed to crashes.

Melinda Wilson, a spokeswoman for Allstate, said a city's crash ranking is one factor that influences a person's automobile insurance premium.

"It's one of many," Wilson said. "Claim history for an individual is obviously the major factor."

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more crashes occur on Saturdays than any other day of the week. Sunday ranked second, and Friday came in third. In addition, most collisions happen between 3 and 6 p.m., with 6 to 9 p.m. ranking second. The fewest crashes occur between midnight and 3 a.m.

According to a separate report released Friday by GMAC Insurance, American drivers lack basic driving knowledge and exhibit alarming behaviors on the road.