… But they aren’t. Philadelphians are.
Yes, Philadelphia has topped yet another unflattering list.
In addition to our ugliness, our misery and our unsurpassable incarceration rates, Philadelphians now have yet another negative ranking to live for: the worst drivers in America.
As reported by Dan Geringer in the Daily News yesterday, in a report by Allstate auto insurance company appropriately titled “Philadelphia Drivers Skid In Among Worst,” research showed that drivers in Philadelphia average 6.6 years between collisions, whereas the average in the U.S. is about 10 years.
Temple educational psychology professor Frank Farley is quoted in the article talking about the distractions for drivers (guys selling flowers, pies, water bottles, newspapers … you name it) and the seeming lack of traffic laws on North Broad Street near campus.
Unfortunately, I’d have to agree that North Broad Street is a sort of automotive no man’s land, so to speak. A loaded gun-wielding drunk driver hit a car I was in at Broad and Cecil B. Moore Streets in February.
But where else can you buy a pie, a newspaper, some flowers for your significant other and a bottle of water all on the same block?
Surely not in Sioux Falls, S.D., which topped this year’s “Allstate America’s Best Drivers” report, where drivers averaged 14.6 years between collisions.
As you might imagine, Philly didn’t make that list.
Penny for your thoughts on what the next terrible list Philly tops will be. Maybe someone will have a bright idea and just rank us the worst people in the U.S. and get it over with!
Drive safe, Philly.