Sioux Falls residents get free gas today for being safe drivers
If you live in Sioux Falls, today's your lucky day. Allstate Insurance is going to buy residents of the South Dakota city a free tank of gas for being the safest drivers in the country. The second annual Allstate America's Best Drivers Report has been released and the residents of Sioux Falls were found to experience a traffic accident once every 13.7 years on average. The national average for a city is one accident every 10 years. This means Sioux Falls residents are 27.2% less likely to bump fenders than the national average. This is the second year Sioux Falls has been named the city with the safest drivers, having earned the report's inaugural top spot last year, too. ABC News reports that Allstate expects to fill up 700 gas tanks in Sioux Falls with nature's combustible cocktail, though that estimate might be a little low considering the city's population is estimated to be 123,975 according to the 2000 U.S. Census.
[Source: ABC News]
Michiganians will also be pleased to know that Allstate is rewarding the state with free gas as well for having the most improved cities in the report. Both Flint and Warren were in the top five (3 and 4, respectively), Sterling Heights placed 12th, Grand Rapids 24th and Detroit 25th. Unfortunately, residents will have to drive to Metro Detroit to get the free fuel, probably wasting a tank full in the process.
The Yin and Yang of the universe demands that when presented with a best list, a worst list isn't far behind. As such, if you're a driver in Washington D.C., Newark or Boston, you should start checking your blindspots a few extra times when changing lines.
Follow the Read link for the full Top 10 list of cities with the safest drivers and a couple more metro areas with not-so-safe drivers.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
devin_sylvester 1:15PM (6/14/2007)
not a complete survey.... doesn't include massachusetts. Which would definitely not make the top of the list, more likely the bottom...
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Jack Silly 7:48PM (6/14/2007)
you said massachusetts was not on the list. read again
_chris_ 1:57PM (6/14/2007)
I guess I should pay attention to the local news. Is it a bad thing that I get my daily local news from Autoblog?
Now if we could just teach people that that middle lane with the cornering arrows if the center "turn lane" not the center "merge lane" this town could really improve it's numbers!
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rem83 2:21PM (6/14/2007)
uh..what?
Andy 3:15PM (6/14/2007)
I know where I'm moving to.
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Kim Pacheco 4:55PM (6/14/2007)
Yea, like sitting in THAT line would be worth it! The line was 3 miles long 3.5 hours before it started!!!!
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dan 5:20PM (6/14/2007)
allstate did this in milwaukee a couple years back... everybody was in such a panic to get free gas that it caused a bunch of accidents.... hopefully people in souix falls are a little more patient.
P. M. 5:56PM (6/14/2007)
Nice idea, but doing it on a weekday morning at a major intersection in Warren, MI was ridiculous. These folks lined up for miles causing traffic jams that were difficult to avoid for the many folks who work in the area. What was supposed to be a good P.R. move for Allstate, buying 10 gallons of gas per car up to $20,000 worth total, turned into a reason for me to never deal with Allstate. The traffic jams caused, the accidents caused (yes, I know of at least one) and the difficulty caused to those who live and work in the area were not worth the $30 worth of gas people were getting. If I were an Allstate customer, I would rather have my premium reduced than having them waste money on these stunts. Besides, it was not Warren residents alone that qualified for the gas, it was anyone who was in line at the beginning of the giveaway until the end of the giveaway. Who knows how good or bad these drivers were. So I say lower premiums for Warren residents as a reward. That will get more customers than this will for Allstate. For the record, I do not live in Warren and do not have Allstate insurance but I do not have any family member in the insurance industry or living in Warren either.
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Don 8:41PM (6/14/2007)
People from Michigan are called Michiganders not Michiganians.
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