Very good drivers
Survey ranks state among the best drivers in the nation
“I'm not surprised by the news because the citizens of our community are great. I feel safe crossing the street.”
Chamber President Cassandra Ersland said. “
Nary a car horn was heard on a recent Friday afternoon in downtown Chick as ha, where according to one survey, the best drivers in Oklahoma reside.
The city of 16,000 was named top sin the Sooner State by Quote Wizard, a consumer insurance research company that ranked Oklahoma' s 50 largest cities by analyzing more than 65,000 ins urance quotes, as well as the rates of accidents, speeding tickets, DUIs and citations.
Inside Chick ash a City Hall, one official chuckled with bemusement at the good driver news. Over at the Chickasha Chamber of Commerce, the city' s top ranking is another reason
to visit the home of the Fighting Chicks.
“I' m not surprised by the news because the citizens of our community are great,” chamber President Cassandra E rs land said. “I feel safe crossing the street.”
Up the road about 30 miles north, QuoteWizard pegged Newcastle as the worst driving city in Oklahoma.
Along U.S. Highway 62, a sign for Newcastle Heights Church of Christ coincidentally read: “Pray at each stop light.”
“Given the low rate of traffic risk, Newcastle drivers might truly be the worst in the state ,” Quote Wizard analyst Adama Johnson said in a post summarized Sooner State driving .“McClain county is no exception either. As a whole, McClain County accounted for 35.58 road fatalities per 100,000 people in 2017. The rate of 35.58 is more than double the 16.66 statewide rate.”
With a front row view of Newcastle drivers, Eric Hen n en runs Newcastle Liquor on U.S. 62.
“I don't find it any different than any town in America,” he said.
Hennen was surprised by Quote Wizard' s ranking of Newcastle, but did recall watching a vehicle with a boat in tow that hit a bump on the highway, knocking the boat loose and sending it across the road into a field.
“It made for an interesting Saturday,” he said.
Quote Wizard ranked Oklahoma as the third best driving state in the country, and Johnson took the opportunity to comfort cities at the bottom of the Sooner State list.
“Since Oklahoma drivers are among the best, we can really only consider the worst drivers in the state the worst of the best,” he said.
The Tulsa area has 10 cities ranked as worst and six ranked as best, according to QuoteWizard. The Oklahoma City area has seven cities ranked as worst and 13 ranked as best.
Other number cruncher s—and proud drivers in places like Newcastle — may disagree with QuoteWizard.
In June, Smart Asset, a financial technology company, ranked Oklahoma as the 18th worst driving state in the country. Their analysis included how often each state uses Google to search for the terms “traffic ticket” and “speeding ticket.”