Over the past year the state of Utah was ranked by Forbes Magazine as The Best State for Business and Careers. Recently Utah, and specifically Salt Lake City, cracked the top ten of another national list. However, this list might not be one to brag about.
In an article by CNBC ranking America’s most dangerous cities for driving, Salt Lake City nearly cracked the top five.
Coming in at sixth place, Utah’s capital trailed only San Bernardino, Calif., Little Rock, Ark., Augusta-Richmond, Georgia, Orlando, Florida, and in first place was Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The study was based on vehicular deaths, and was conducted in U.S. cities with a population of 150,000 or more.
Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System and General Estimates System was compiled to find out in which cities drivers face the greatest risk driving. Salt Lake City has a population of 181,698. The total fatality rate per 100,000 people is 16.51. Nearly 27% of the fatalities involved pedestrians. It’s not all bad news for Utah, according to Zero Fatalities Utah’s traffic fatalities were down 37% in 2010 in comparison to 2000.
Arlington, Virginia, is America’s safest city to drive in, with a fatality rate of 0.48%.
Despite Utah’s capital coming in at 6th, our state faired much better than some others. Florida is home to four of the cities in the top 15.
Salt Lake City and San Bernardino were the only two western cities to make the top 15. The rest of the list is dominated by the southern portion of the United States.
