A report released by the Allstate Corporation Tuesday ranks the city of Yonkers as one of the least-safe driving cities in the country, landing at a 167th among the 200 cities profiled.
The tenth annual Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report measured the driving safety of the 200 largest cities in the country based on the collision frequency in said cities. For the first time, this year’s report included factors like population, population density, and precipitation. With the new factors put into account it was estimated that an average driver in Yonkers will experience an auto collision every seven-and-a-half years.
“We don’t want drivers in Yonkers to be discouraged by their ranking,” said Jaclyn Darrohn, a spokesperson for Allstate New York. “Instead we want the report to challenge drivers in Yonkers to make positive changes to their driving.”
In comparison with the previous three years, fellow Allstate New York spokesperson Christina Kelly said that Yonkers has been growing safer over the years— rising from 172 in the 2011 report to 167 in the 2014 report. However, although the city has been improving in the rankings, some Yonkers residents still express worry.
Alexander Chapman, 21, a born-and-raised Yonkers native, argues that his city’s poor rankings are influenced partly by untreated potholes (perhaps an ideal project for the city’s push to revitalize its downtown area?) on the streets of Yonkers, some of which he says have been there since his childhood. But he said some responsibility also lies with the drivers themselves.
“Regarding the drivers themselves, they are often very aggressive,” said Chapman. “If you go to Bronxville or White Plains, the drivers might still be aggressive but in Yonkers, where the speed limit is 40, people are going at least 60 miles per hour. I feel like there’s at least an accident or two on Central Avenue every single day.”
