Monday, November 22, 2010

Belleville safest city for drivers

Belleville's No. 1!

Allstate's 2010 Ontario Safe Driving Study released its stats on the 50 cities surveyed for the report. The 3 year study shows that Belleville had the lowest frequency of car collisions in all of Ontario. The highest? Brampton. Ajax, Maple, Thornhill and Toronto came in at 49th, 48th, 47th, and 46th place.

Driving in Belleville a couple of times a week, I can attest to its safety. Of course, Trenton is even safer, but it wasn't studied by Allstate. Trenton drivers are the most polite, considerate, friendly people I've ever been privileged to share the road with in over 40 years of driving. Granted, I learned to drive on Long Island and spent my early driving years driving to and in New York City every week!

Moving to Toronto brought more of the same and I learned to become a competitive driver, always looking for alternate routes to get around traffic and knowing the streets and their ins and outs like a cab driver. Every drive into the thick of things became a game of survival of the quickest thinker.

Fast forward to Trenton, where drivers let you in, flash their lights at 4-way stops to signal "you go first", slow down at yellow lights, don't tailgate, and generally use their cars for the very reasons cars were invented. Of course, there are a few exceptions - most often young men (and sometimes women) in pickups - but they are merely a blip in the drivescape that is Trenton.

Belleville, a pleasant 20 minute drive away, and Brighton, 13 minutes away - two of my favourite places to go  - are both driver-friendly.

The Allstate study is yet another happy reason to live here!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers