Are Milwaukee Drivers Safe Drivers?

Next time you’re driving around Milwaukee and feel the urge to drop a one-finger salute on the guy who changed lanes without signaling, remember this: He’s part of the 15th-safest driving city in America.

Unless he’s got Illinois plates — Chicago is ranked 152nd.

The ratings are courtesy of Allstate Insurance Company, which ranked the country’s 200 largest cities based on Allstate claims data for its eighth annual “America’s Best Drivers” report.

Milwaukee drivers have an accident once every 11.8 years, according to the data, which is 15.2 percent better than the national average of 10 years. The city was among the top 21 for the first five years of the report before falling to 42nd and then 38th the last two years.

We will be out on those roads slightly more this Labor Day weekend, according to AAA Wisconsin. The organization estimates 711,000 Wisconsinites will travel this weekend, an increase of 1.8 percent from last year. Auto travel accounts for almost 90 percent of that amount.

This year’s safest city according to Allstate's rankings? Sioux Falls, SD, which earned the honor for the fifth consecutive year. Northeastern cities fill the lower part of the rankings, with Washington, DC drivers averaging an accident every 4.7 years.

According to Allstate’s press release, a weighted average of the two-year numbers determined the annual percentages. The report defines an auto crash as any collision resulting in a property damage claim. Allstate's auto policies represent about 10 percent of all U.S. auto policies.