6 days ago
Richmond has some of the riskiest drivers in America
Richmond is one of the riskiest cities to drive in nationwide, per Allstate claims data.
Why it matters: The findings put a little quantitative weight behind some people's strongly held beliefs that Richmond drivers are awful.
The big picture: Allstate determined risk by analyzing how many years drivers from the 200 biggest U.S. cities go without a reported collision for its 2025 America's Best Drivers Report.
The nationwide average is about 10.6 years. Richmond is at 7.5.
That places the city at 161 out of 200.
We've also dropped 73 spots since 2015, when Richmond was ranked No. 88.
Reality check: The data doesn't factor in collisions' severity, which means some cities may have a smaller number of road incidents overall, but more fatalities.
Zoom in: Earlier this month, the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police lauded Richmond for a 32% drop in traffic-related deaths last year.
It's the largest decline recorded since at least 2017.
But traffic-related deaths have yet to drop to pre-pandemic levels, per the city's dashboard.
Among the factors the association noted has helped reduce deaths:
Richmond lowering speed limits.
Giving more speeding tickets and adding more speed cameras.
Building 200 speed bumps citywide, installing pedestrian beacons for when people cross multi-lane streets and creating more accessible sidewalks.
Yes, but: Richmond has still recorded over 1,100 total crashes this year, which resulted in 550 people injured and six killed, per the dashboard.
