driving – Page 2 – Topical Fruit

Are the Drivers in Your City Really Dangerous or Just a Little Dangerous?

Let’s say you’re on the road, minding your own business, and someone cuts you off doing 80 in a school zone with a turn signal that last blinked in 2013. Ever wonder if that kind of chaos is normal where you live?

Thanks to Allstate’s latest America’s Best Drivers Report, now we know exactly which U.S. cities are crushing it behind the wheel… and which ones should probably be forced to take the bus.

The 10 Safest Driving Cities in America

These cities are full of people who apparently read the manual, use turn signals, and maybe even wave politely when you let them merge (unverified):

Brownsville, TX
Boise, ID
Fort Collins, CO
Cary, NC
Laredo, TX
Olathe, KS
Scottsdale, AZ
Port St. Lucie, FL
Madison, WI
Eugene, OR

Congrats to Brownsville for taking the top spot with an average of 14.2 years between accidents. At that rate, your car might age out of the warranty before you hit anything. (And yeah, that’s collisions PER DRIVER, not overall. Although, who knows how many people live in Brownsville.)

And Now… the 10 Riskiest Driving Cities in the U.S.

If you live in one of these, maybe just get the full insurance coverage. And possibly a helmet.

Boston, MA
Washington, DC
Baltimore, MD
Worcester, MA
Springfield, MA
Glendale, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Oakland, CA
Providence, RI
Philadelphia, PA

Boston remains undefeated in vehicular chaos. On average, a Boston driver crashes every 3.07 years… which explains a lot if you’ve ever tried crossing Boylston Street with your life flashing before your eyes.

What the Data Actually Shows

East Coast, Least Safe: Seven of the 10 riskiest cities are on the East Coast. We assume it’s the traffic. Or the rage. Or both.
West Coast, Still Sketchy: California cities like L.A., Glendale, and Oakland aren’t exactly coasting either.
Texas = Road Safety Royalty: Four Texas cities made the top 20 safest list, and Brownsville took the crown. Everything’s bigger in Texas… including the respect for stop signs?
Pacific Northwest Redemption Arc: Cities like Bellevue, WA, and Portland, OR improved dramatically. Bellevue jumped 133 spots to become the most improved city since 2015.
Midwest Mayhem: St. Louis drivers fell harder than a dad on a hoverboard, dropping 90 spots to land at #175. Des Moines, Kansas City, and Omaha also took major hits in the rankings.

The Gap Is Growing

Overall, crash rates are slightly down nationwide, but the safe cities are getting safer, while the dangerous ones… yeah, not great. In fact, several of the worst-off cities saw crashes spike over 25% since 2015.

Want to see where your city landed?

The full 200-city list is available in the full report. But if you’re in Boston, you probably already knew.

Husband Forgets Wife on Road Trip, Drives 186 Miles

If you’re out on a road trip this summer with the fam, make sure to do a headcount before pulling away from the gas station.

A 62-year-old man from France is making headlines – and likely sleeping on the couch – after he accidentally left his wife behind at a rest stop during a family drive from Paris to Morocco. He didn’t realize she was missing until nearly 200 miles later.

Yes, really.

It happened on Day One of a 27-hour drive.

The trip was meant to be a relaxing and scenic multi-day journey. Their 22-year-old daughter was along for the ride too, sleeping in the back seat when things went sideways.

Around 4:30 a.m. on July 5th, the husband pulled into a gas station to fuel up. When he hit the road again, he somehow didn’t notice his wife wasn’t in the car.

Not ideal.

The oblivious husband just kept on driving.

To make things worse, he didn’t realize what had happened until around 8:30 a.m. – a full four hours and 186 miles later.

At that point, he called the police but couldn’t remember which gas station he’d stopped at – or even which city it was in. (Clearly a man who does not plan the family vacations.)

His wife was okay, if maybe a tad annoyed.

Fortunately, police were able to locate his 60-year-old wife by checking her cell phone records. It turned out she’d been sitting at the gas station the entire time, waiting patiently for her loving husband and daughter to notice she was missing.

How did he not realize?

Authorities didn’t explain how the husband failed to notice she was missing for such a long stretch of time. Maybe she’d been sleeping in the back, and he didn’t realize she got out to use the bathroom? Or was he just way too focused on making good time?

Police initially suspected he may have ditched her on purpose, but eventually concluded it was a genuine – if completely bonkers – mistake. No legal charges were filed, but we imagine his wife will be bringing it up every time they have a fight from now on.

After backtracking nearly 200 miles, he picked her up and the family resumed their drive. There may have been a few awkward silences along the way.

Should Left Turns Be Illegal? One Expert Thinks So—Here’s Why

It might feel like a small thing, but that dreaded left turn across oncoming traffic could be one of the most dangerous moves you make behind the wheel.

Now, a civil engineering professor at Penn State is making the case that we should rethink left turns entirely – and ban them at busy intersections.

His reasoning? The stats don’t lie.

Intersections are already danger zones, accounting for 40% of all crashes.

More than 60% of those wrecks involve someone trying to make a left. Worse yet, half of those left-turn crashes result in a serious injury, and one in five ends in a fatality.

But it’s not just about safety. Left turns can also be a huge time suck for everyone who’s not turning left.

Left turns are huge time wasters.

Left turn signals make things safer. But it means the rest of traffic has to wait just so a few cars can inch across. That stop-and-go inefficiency adds up, especially during high-traffic times.

That’s why the professor is calling on more cities to limit or ban left turns altogether, at least during peak hours. The goal? Make intersections flow more smoothly and reduce the risk of deadly crashes.

While banning left turns en mass might sound unrealistic, the idea isn’t without precedent.

Cities like San Francisco, New York, and parts of Michigan already use strategies to reduce or reroute left turns. UPS even uses routing software that avoids them entirely, not just for safety but to save time and fuel.

So before you grumble about the extra loop around the block, just remember: ditching left turns could mean a safer, faster commute for everyone.

If nothing else, getting stuck behind that person turning left would be one less thing to road rage about.

Which States Are the Best and Worst for Summer Road Trips?

If you’re mapping out the ultimate American road trip this summer, here’s a hot tip: maybe don’t start in Delaware. Or end in Delaware. Or drive through it unless your GPS absolutely insists.

WalletHub just released its annual list of the Best and Worst States for Summer Road Trips, and Delaware came in dead last. Yes, last. Fifty out of fifty.

The ranking looked at 32 factors, including cost, safety, and how many things there are to actually do.

National parks, beaches, amusement parks, lakes, scenic drives… basically all the reasons you’d leave your house in the first place. And apparently, Delaware offers… not a lot of that.

On the flip side, Minnesota took the top spot, which is a win for lakes, mosquitoes, and people who say “ope” unironically.

Here’s the Top 10:

1. Minnesota
2. New York
3. Ohio
4. Utah
5. Louisiana
6. Florida
7. Idaho
8. Texas
9. North Carolina
10. Pennsylvania

And now, the Bottom 10, aka the states where your road trip dreams might go to die:

50. Delaware
49. Connecticut
48. Rhode Island
47. Vermont
46. Montana
45. Hawaii
44. California (amazing things to do, disgusting gas prices)
43. New Mexico
42. Arkansas
41. Maryland

Some bonus tidbits: Louisiana is the cheapest state for a road trip. Idaho is the safest. California has the most to do, but good luck affording any of it unless you’re road-tripping in a Prius and living on protein bars.

And if you’re looking to not get rear-ended, steer clear of New Mexico, South Carolina, and Tennessee… they are the least-safe states to road trip through.

And why is Delaware last? Well, it’s small, and it’s quiet. So unless you’re really into scenic bank headquarters and toll booths, maybe keep driving.