Allstate IDs 10 Deadliest Cities For New Year’s Teen Drivers

Jacksonville, Fla., led the list of 10 cities that Allstate calls the deadliest hotspots for teen drivers on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

The survey, part of the Northbrook, Ill., insurer’s “Home for the Holidays public awareness and policy campaign,” listed 10 cities it calls the deadliest hotspots for teens during the two-day period among the nation’s 50 largest metro areas.

Allstate said that what each of these areas has in common is that over the past eight years they have had the highest fatal crash rates for teen drivers during the New Year’s holiday period.

The number does not reflect the number of teens killed, but the number of crashes involving a teenage driver and a fatality.

Among the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas (a central city and its surrounding counties), Allstate identified the deadliest hotspots:

• Jacksonville, Fla.
• Columbus, Ohio
• Richmond, Va.
• Birmingham, Ala.
• Orlando, Fla.
• Phoenix
• Las Vegas
• Philadelphia
• Sacramento, Calif.
• St. Louis

The ranking is based on Allstate’s teen driving score assessment.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, from 1991 through 2006, more than 5,000 teens died on America’s roads each year. The year 2007 was the first in which the teen figures dropped below 5,000 since 1975. Motor vehicle accidents also were identified as the leading killer of American teens in 2005, the latest year for such data, the IIHS said.

The study examined recent federal crash statistics, Allstate’s claims data on teen collisions and U.S. Census Bureau statistics to score metro areas across the nation on rates of fatal crashes involving teen drivers during the holidays.

It was conducted by Allstate in conjunction with Sperling’s BestPlaces, a Portland, Ore., research firm specializing in demographic studies and analysis.