Community Corner
Worcester Has Second to Worst Drivers in the Whole Country
In a list of good to bad drivers, Worcester only ranks better than Boston as having the worst drivers around.
WORCESTER, MA—Massachusetts drivers have once again cemented its "Masshole" reputation by appearing at the bottom of yet another national ranking of "Best Drivers."
This time, it's insurance company Allstate, which ranked cities across the country based on how likely you are to get into a crash there.
Coming in dead last: Boston, for the second year in a row.
But don't worry. Boston has company. Worcester came in at No. 199, second up from Boston's position in the 200th slot. Boston and Worcester have basically been battling it out for last place in Allstate's rankings since 2014. Springfield makes a poor showing, too, at No. 196.
Allstate also takes into account the surrounding suburban metropolitan areas.
According to Allstate, Boston drivers in 2016 made a habit of slamming on their brakes, roughly 16.8 times per 1,000 miles. This correlates to number of accidents, according to the insurance company. It's not all our fault, though. Boston also ranked poorly in terms of the frequency of rain and snow, additional factors in the likelihood of crashes.
Coming in at No. 1 (where you are statistically least likely to get in a car accident) is Brownsville, Texas. It's followed by Kansas City, Kansas, and Madison, Wisconsin, at numbers two and three.
You can find the full list from Allstate here.
Fun fact: If you use "Masshole" as a search term for images on Flickr licensed for distribution under Creative Commons, a big portion of the pictures are of cars. Like the one above, taken by Matthew in Boston, whose caption reads: "License plate 'TOWNIE' parked on a sidewalk.
What can I say? Too perfect, really."
By Mike Carraggi (Patch staff)
