- ConsumerAffairs studied accident rate data to rank the cities
- They scaled the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data
The US cities with the most dangerous roads have been revealed in a new study into the highest number of car accidents – and three of the top five are in Florida.
ConsumerAffairs looked at data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to rank cities based on crash rates and population.
In first place with 33 fatal car accidents per 100,000 residents was Memphis, Tennessee, with 207 fatal accidents in 2022.
Close behind was Daytona Beach, Florida, with 32 fatalities per 100,000 residents, and then Ocala, Florida, with 31 fatalities per 100,000 residents.
Fort Lauderdale ranked fifth behind Macon, Georgia, meaning three Florida cities were in the top five.
The report included crashes involving cars, light trucks, SUVs and vans in 195 U.S. cities.
Memphis came out on top with three times the national rate of 11.77 accidents per 100,000 residents.
ConsumerAffairs said, “This finding may not surprise ConsumerAffairs readers, as Memphis was the top-ranked city in our Worst Drivers in America survey last year.”
Although Memphis came in at the top when adjusted for population size, a total of five cities had more fatal crashes.
Los Angeles had the most with 341, followed by Houston, Phoenix, New York City and Dallas.
The study also listed the cities with the fewest accidents.
Reading, Pennsylvania, was found to be the city with the lowest car accident rate in 2022, with 1.05 accidents per 100,000 residents.
Researchers said: ‘Reading was one of four with only one fatal car accident all year. The others were Passaic, New Jersey; Ames, Iowa; and Iowa City, Iowa.”
New York was surprisingly low on the list with only 228 fatal accidents among eight million residents.
Memphis came out on top with three times the national rate of 11.77 accidents per 100,000 residents
Just behind was Daytona Beach, Florida, with 32 fatalities per 100,000 residents
Megan Cooper, a spokesperson for AAA, says there are several factors that contribute to fatal crashes.
She told WREG: “Speeding is a big problem, distracted driving, impaired driving, people not wearing their seat belts.
“You know those very simple things that bring us back to Traffic Safety 101.”
Crashes in the top three cities have made headlines in recent weeks.
In Ocala, a crash sent a bus flew off the road and through a fence where it rolled over, which killed eight passengers and injured at least forty others.
Four people were killed and another injured in a multi-car crash on I-240 in Memphis last week.