The Pipeline

Baltimore drivers ranked as the second worst in the country.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011 By Max Sterling

Anyone who drives has had the feeling that the worst drivers have to be in their city. Driving in big cities can be very dangerous, resulting from a combination of the traffic, busy streets, pedestrians and poor driving. For the seventh year in a row, All State Insurance did a report on the worst cities for driving in the United States. The report compares the collision frequency of the largest cities in America in order to determine in which cities it is the most dangerous to drive. This year, Baltimore was ranked 192 nd out of 193, with 1 st being the safest place to drive. Why does Baltimore have such unsafe drivers? “[Baltimore has] more traffic, pedestrians, bicycles, congestions” Officer Goralsyzk says of driving in Baltimore. The structure and history of the city has added to the traffic problems. Centuries ago, Baltimore was a route for early settlers headed west. Baltimore was also one of the most important cities in the War of 1812, leading to great population increases. “It’s an older city, the streets are narrower…there are bottleneck points you don’t see in other cities,” Officer Goralsyzk said. For the second year in a row, Washington D.C. was ranked last, the only city to be worse than Baltimore to drive in. “Washington D.C., it is so crazy to find your way, it’s just so crowded and confused,” Officer Goralsyzk said. Other notable cities on the All State report include New York, which was ranked 171st, Philadelphia, ranked 188th, Los Angeles, ranked 182 nd , and Chicago, ranked 152 nd . Ranked first on the report was the city of Fort Collins, CO, which is about an hour outside of Denver. “Denver is great, it’s easy to navigate…has really straight roads,” Officer Goralsyzk said of which cities he thinks are nice to drive in. The Baltimore Grand Prix, and the flooding from the rainstorm in early September haven’t helped the traffic much, but there is hope that Baltimore won’t be as dangerous to drive in next year. “Get people to be patient, it’s amazing how in different parts of the country people drive so much differently, it would make the city much safer,” Officer Goralsyzk said.