Study: Atlanta drivers among country's least safe

By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Fair warning to Atlantans who haven't been involved a car wreck for eight years:  You're due.

Atlanta placed 146th in a study commissioned by Allstate Insurance ranking America's safest driving cities. According to the report, the average driver in Atlanta will experience an auto collision every 8.2 years.

"I had never been in a car accident or even a fender bender before I moved here from Ohio seven years ago," said Jennifer Lob, a senior account executive with Weber Shandwick.  "Since then I’ve been in at least five. I’ve never seen so many people distracted on the road. People put on their makeup, shave, read books ..."

Fort Collins, Colo., ranked as the country's safest driving city. There, the average person experiences a wreck every 14.5 years -- 31 percent below the national average. Coming in second: Chattanooga, a two-hour drive from Atlanta. Knoxville finished fifth.

Among cities with more than 1 million residents, only New York, Houston, San Antonio, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, in that order, finished below Atlanta.