According to a recent article in the Oregonian, a study just completed by Allstate Insurance shows that Portland drivers have more automobile collisions than all but seven of the nation’s largest 200 cities.
Allstate statistical research showed that Portland drivers are involved in auto accidents once every 6.9 years, contrasted to the national average of once in a ten year span. Allstate, like most carriers, takes these types of statistics into account when evaluating risk and setting rates, so we might expect a bump in premiums as a consequence of our apparently poor driving.
Also of interest is the fact that Portland drivers experience over 18 “hard braking events” per 1,000 miles driven, again above the national average of 16 such incidents.
We’d like to remind our fellow nor’westerners of the two second rule, which helps drivers maintain safer following distances. This, in turn, reduces instances of panic braking, and rear-end accidents as well.
