Study: Santa Rosa among California's safest drivers

<p>Santa Rosa drivers are third safest in the state, according to an insurance company study released Wednesday.</p><p>But don’t tell that to longtime resident Roy Walling.</p><p>“You’re not serious?” Walling questioned Wednesday afternoon. “Absolutely not. Speeders. Speeders. Speeders,” he said.</p><p>The annual “America’s Best Drivers” study comes from Allstate Insurance Company and is based on claims submitted for car crashes by its customers. The company compares the numbers of the largest cities nationwide.</p><p>Santa Rosa drivers also did well in comparison with the nation’s 200 largest cities, coming in 74th. Last year the city was 75th in the nation.</p><p>The insurance company’s number-crunching shows that the average Santa Rosa driver will crash once every 9.6 years. That bests the national average of crashing once every 10 years, said Jim Klapthor, Allstate spokesman.</p><p>Drivers in Salinas and Bakersfield fair a little better and beat out Santa Rosa drivers for the top two spots statewide.</p><p>Nationally, drivers in Sioux Falls, South Dakota statistically go the longest time between crashes, with an average of 13.5 years, according to the study.</p><p>“It appears Santa Rosa is doing pretty well,” Klapthor said, explaining that these latest, weighted ratings were taken from reports filed over 2006-2007. Allstate captures about 11 percent of the auto insurance market in the country, which makes the study statistically significant, Klapthor said.</p><p>Fine. But what’s the view from the roadway?</p><p>“I’m afraid I can’t agree at all,” said Aimee hood, who moved to Santa Rosa from Texas less than two years ago.</p><p>“I’ve been hit in parking lots and on 101. People are cutting each other off. You see accidents all over the road,” Hood said.</p><p>Hood and Walling were two of several drivers of all ages to give their opinions Wednesday afternoon while out running errands at Santa Rosa Marketplace.</p><p>Sue Lemoine of Lakeport, who drives into Santa Rosa once or twice a week, said, “I think I feel pretty safe (driving) in Santa Rosa. I don’t see as many red light runners as I did when I lived in Sonoma,” Lemoine said.</p><p>“Santa Rosa doesn’t have as many aggressive drivers as there are in Marin County and San Francisco,” said Santa Rosa native Jordan Carrington.</p><p>But lifelong Santa Rosa resident Kelly Bollman laughed at the idea of local drivers being so good.</p><p>“I’ve seen lots of road rage and tailgating,” Bollman said.</p><p>“Third in the state? I’m kind of surprised,” said Grant Manley, a Santa Rosa resident of eight years.</p><p>Still, he said he feels safe enough driving in town:</p><p>“I haven’t had a whole lot of accidents. Mainly they’ve been my fault.”</p><p>Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Doug Schlief thought the ranking sounded good, but whether it was truly accurate remained a question.</p><p>Schlief, a veteran traffic officer, said improving traffic issues has been a top priority in the city for years. In 2007 the department’s efforts resulted in a first place award in a statewide competition for excellence in traffic safety programs.</p><p>“I would hope it’s a lot of our efforts and community efforts to recognize it as a high priority,” Schlief said.</p><p>Klapthor said a goal of the study is to alert drivers and hope for improvement in high accident areas.</p>