Watch Out! This Michigan City Is 2nd Most Dangerous for Drivers

A new study comparing driving safety in America's 100 biggest cities reveals that one of the worst places for drivers is in Michigan.

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The personal finance website WalletHub is out with its list of 2023's Best & Worst Cities to Drive In, and one Michigan city in particular saw very poor marks for driver safety.

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What Makes a City Unsafe for Drivers?

WalletHub looked at several factors when rating cities' relative safety for drivers, such as:

the likelihood of having an accident in the city as compared to the national average;
its rate of traffic fatalities;
seat-belt usage;
how many hard-braking events per 1,000 miles among customers voluntarily enrolled in Allstate’s Drivewise® telematics program;
its share of uninsured drivers;
its rate of car thefts and larcenies;
how strict the DUI laws are in its state;
how hard it is for high-risk drivers to get insured;
and any local driving laws.

RELATED: These 10 Michigan Counties Are Weakest on Drink Drivers

When the numbers were all boiled down, Detroit was revealed to be the 2nd-most unsafe city for drivers in America, behind only St. Louis, Missouri.

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Detroit's traffic and infrastructure scored poorly in the study as well, ranking 12th-worst in the nation.

What Can Be Done to Make Detroit a Safer City for Drivers?

Arizona State University Assistant Professor Junfeng Zhao offers these recommendations for cities that find themselves struggling with driver safety:

“Local authorities should invest in road infrastructure to accommodate growing populations and reduce bottlenecks. They should also invest in digital infrastructure and employ novel intelligent transportation systems. We can utilize technology and data to optimize traffic flow, reduce congestion, improve safety, and increase energy efficiency.”

Is that too tall an order for Detroit? One would hope with all the construction going on that something will improve someday.

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14 Violations That Are Considered Distracted Driving in Michigan

Michigan's new Distracted Driving, effective June 30, 2023, has added some new violations to the already existing list of no-nos behind the wheel. Here are 14 offenses that will get you a hefty fine and hours of community service, if you're caught doing them in your car.

Gallery Credit: Scott Clow

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli