Which are the most dangerous cities for drivers?

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – Two Tennessee cities rank first and second in a study seeking to determine the most dangerous places to drive in the nation.

The study, conducted by ConsumerAffairs using data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, ranked Memphis and Knoxville as the first- and second-most dangerous cities in terms of fatal car accidents. Rounding out the top five are Waterbury, Connecticut; Aurora, Colorado; and Tucson, Arizona, according to ConsumerAffairs’ findings.

ConsumerAffairs based its ranking on fatal car accidents only, which they divided into four categories: fatalities involving DUI offenses, fatalities involving positive blood-alcohol content tests; fatalities involving speeding, and fatalities involving “bad driving,” which included accidents caused by inexperience, disobeying traffic signs or aggressive maneuvers.

Each of the 327 cities included in the ranking was given a score in each category (along with a score for overall traffic deaths per capita), and those scores were combined to create the final list.

The top 25 cities with the “worst drivers” in terms of fatal accidents, according to ConsumerAffairs’ analysis, are below:

1. Memphis, Tennessee
2. Knoxville, Tennessee
3. Waterbury, Connecticut
4. Aurora, Colorado
5. Tucson, Arizona
6. Kansas City, Missouri
7. San Bernardino, California
8. Billings, Montana
9. Miami Gardens, Florida
10. Charleston, South Carolina
11. Murrieta, California
12. Mobile, Alabama
13. North Charleston, South Carolina
14. Lubbock, Texas
15. Birmingham, Alabama
16. Chattanooga, Tennessee
17. Detroit, Michigan
18. Odessa, Texas
19. Cedar Rapids, Iowa
20. Dallas, Texas
21. Pomona, California
22. Winston-Salem, North Carolina
23. Goodyear, Arizona
24. Pueblo, Colorado
25. Tempe, Arizona

A complete ranking of all 327 cities, as well as the methodology of the study, can be found at ConsumerAffairs’ official website.

A representative for ConsumerAffairs was not immediately available to discuss the methodology further, or confirm when the data used in the study was collected. (ConsumerAffairs said it had used the “most recent” crash figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.) In many cases, a high-ranking city also had less overall fatalities than some cities which ranked lower, due to the scoring assigned to each category by ConsumerAffairs.

Joe Young, a representative for the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, also added that the findings don’t necessarily indicate that a city has bad drivers, but possibly bad roads or enforcement.

“Dangerous roads aren’t just a result of the people driving them, but also policies and designs that allow for or encourage those behaviors,” Young said, in a statement published at ConsumerAffairs. “Issues with speeding, for example, may point to roadway designs or speed limits that encourage higher speeds, or lack of enforcement of the speed limits that do exist.”

These latest rankings from ConsumerAffairs mark the third year the outlet has released its “worst drivers” study. Memphis has ranked first in each of the three years.