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The city with the most dangerous drivers is also the highest in the USA
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The city with the most dangerous drivers is also the highest in the USA

Sunset over the skyline of Albuquerque, New Mexico, a green park in the foreground.

Its incredible altitude makes this city special, but the danger lies in the drivers.

Forbes just ranked the cities with the worst drivers by the number of fatal car crashes. The most dangerous city to drive in is Albuquerque, New Mexico. This city of 560,000 also happens to be located at an elevation of 5,312 feet, making it the highest metropolitan area in the U.S. But the number of traffic fatalities may depend on how dangerous the drivers are. Here’s how the numbers break down.

Of all the cities Forbes studied for road safety, Albuquerque had the highest number of fatal crashes involving a driver who was distracted (because they were texting or doing some other task). How many? 5.42 crashes per 100,000 residents, or about 30 per year.

But that’s not all. Albuquerque also ranked fifth in the number of fatal accidents due to speeding. This number was almost equal to the number of accidents due to distracted driving – 5.56 per 100,000 residents, to be exact – so an additional 30 accidents per year.

A car accident between two uninsured drivers.
A car accident from above | Bilanol via iStock

Finally, Albuquerque ranks sixth in the number of fatal accidents involving drunk drivers, which equates to 4.67 per 100,000 residents, or about 26 per year.

Albuquerque is the only city that ranks so high in all three of the above categories, and Forbes has named it the most dangerous city to drive in. However, it has the third highest number of fatal car crashes of any U.S. city (17.11 per 100,000 residents) and the third highest number of people killed in those fatal crashes (per 100,000 residents).

In total, there are about 96 fatal accidents in Albuquerque each year, or one every four days. These accidents kill about 100 people each year. Memphis, Tennessee, has the highest number of fatal car accidents per capita (24.18 per 100,000 residents).

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