The District is the second-riskiest city in the U.S. for drivers, according to an Allstate study in which Baltimore is third.
The bottom six cities were unchanged from the insurance company’s 2025 report: Boston; the District; Baltimore; Worcester, Massachusetts; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Glendale, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Allstate’s “2026 America’s Best Drivers Report” analyzed the frequency of property damage claims in the 200 most-populous U.S. cities from January 2023 to December 2024 to determine the average number of years between collisions for drivers in each city and the relative likelihood of a collision compared to the national average.
Drivers in the District have an average of 4.24 years between car crashes and the likelihood of a collision in the city is 156.3% higher than the national average, according to the study.
Baltimore drivers have an average of 4.49 years between crashes and the collision likelihood there is 142.1% higher than the national average, Allstate said.
Alexandria is the 12th-riskiest city for drivers, with an average of 6.21 years between collisions and with collisions being 75% more likely compared to the national average. Allstate said.
Arlington is the 34th-riskiest city of the 200 in the study, with an average of 7.61 years between collisions and with collisions being 42.8% more likely than average.
Allstate attributes the D.C. area’s rankings to a high frequency of driving at night, when there is less visibility and more driver fatigue, and to drivers using their phones while driving more often.
A D.C. Allstate agent, however, says the problem in the city may not necessarily be with resident drivers.
“I think a lot of it isn’t so much from D.C. natives. I think it’s a lot of people coming from outside of D.C. — coming from Maryland and Virginia that commute to D.C. — that maybe aren’t as familiar with the traffic laws in D.C. and how congested D.C. is with the influx of pedestrians, Uber drivers, the Door Dash guys on the scooters, the Metrobuses,” Allstate agent Rudy Alston told WRC-TV.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.