Los Angeles can claim the worst traffic in the nation, but it’s the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area that takes the cake as the worst place to drive in all of California, according to a new study. The study – commissioned by media company 24/7 Wall St. – sought to identify the one city in each state where driving was “especially stressful, time consuming, and dangerous” based on publicly available data around traffic fatality rates, average commute times, traffic delays, and car theft rates. Unsurprisingly, cities that boast major roads and highways packed with tons of cars topped the lists in each state.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara vaulted to the top of the rankings in California with higher rates of car theft and traffic fatality rates. The San Jose metro area is among the top 20 US cities for rates of car theft – #13 overall, alongside other Californian hotspots such as San Francisco-Oakland, Yuba City, Stockton-Lodi, Modesto, and Bakersfield. San Jose metro’s 6.2 traffic fatalities per 100,000 people in 2018 is half the rate for the US as a whole (12.4 deaths per 100,000) and more in line with traffic fatality rates reported in western Europe and Canada.
Among the other highlights from the report:
- The average commute time for drivers in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara came to 29.8 minutes
- Drivers spent 81 hours annually as the result of traffic delays
As for the state as a whole, how does California stack up against its peers? Given all the drivers clogging California’s roads, California topped the nation in motor vehicle fatal crashes and crash deaths in 2018, accounting for nearly 10% of the nation’s totals in both categories.
You’re likely a safe and conscientious driver, but if you should find yourself on a dangerous stretch of road in the San Jose area or anywhere across California and have the bad luck of getting into a car crash, you can depend on the attorneys at Hogan Injury to provide you with caring and effective representation. Our legal team has years of experience; contact us today!