Forbes: Albuquerque has worst drivers

Say it ain't so.

Albuquerque has the worst drivers. That's according to Forbes magazine, anyway.

There is plenty of bad driving and traffic issues in other, more crowded cities. With unending traffic jams and chaos in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, New York or Miami, it's hard to think the Duke City can compare. So why Albuquerque?

Forbes Advisor released its findings about Albuquerque last month after collecting and analyzing data that compared the 50 most populated U.S. cities across five key metrics.

Those metrics, which focus on fatalities, were: 1) The number of people killed in fatal crashes, 2) the total number of fatal crashes, 3) fatal crashes involving a drunk driver, 4) fatal crashes involving a distracted driver and 5) fatal crashes involving speeding — all per 100,000 residents.

Albuquerque topped this ignominious list, followed by Memphis, Tennessee; Detroit; Tucson; and Kansas City, Missouri.

According to the Forbes Advisor study, Albuquerque has the highest number of fatal accidents involving a distracted driver, 5.42 per 100,000 city residents; it ranks third for most fatal car accidents, third in the number of people killed in fatal crashes, fifth in the number of fatal accidents involving speeding cars, and sixth in fatal accidents involving a drunk driver.

Apart from the terrible optics the report imposes on the city, the designation also means it's simply dangerous to be on the roads, whether a driver, bicyclist or pedestrian.

It's not lost on local drivers how much of a wrestling match driving around town could be. Most of those interviewed don't think driving in the area is that horrendous. But problems exist.

Ellen Mather, of Albuquerque's Northeast Heights, thinks city driving is only bad occasionally.

"It's mostly super-aggressive driving," Mather said, "like people racing through traffic, different speeds of traffic. Speeding primarily, especially on the highway."

Though such local anecdotes are widespread, they aren't unique to Albuquerque. There may be another factor at play, however.

Roads or drivers?

Nick Ferenchak, an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico and director of the year-old U.S. Department of Transportation Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety, said he won't argue with the Forbes data — which was gleaned from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data from 2017 to 2021 — but he said there may be another way of looking at the high rate of traffic fatalities: road conditions.

"I won't say New Mexico has the worst drivers," Ferenchak said. "We really don't know if it's the behavior of the driver or bad infrastructure."

Ferenchak, who studies ways to make traffic safer, cites improvements made on parts of Central Avenue to cut down on pedestrian crashes as an example of the impact of infrastructure on traffic safety.

Similarly, he pointed out, infrastructure in some U.S. cities could affect accidental deaths caused by vehicular traffic.

In general, he said, older cities in the U.S. are safer than newer cities because roads are narrower and more people take public transportation in older cities — "fewer people in cars means fewer people will be killed by cars."

By contrast, newer developments follow the build-it-and-they-will-come effect. And there has been plenty of new developments around Albuquerque.

"In newer American cities, development has been sprawl — you build a big road and everyone drives."

Worst, Ferenchak said, sprawl leads to speeding.

"On big, wide roads, it's human nature to drive fast," he said.

He recommends studying infrastructure needs of urban areas to cut down on crashes.

In April, Ferenchak briefed U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg when they toured the area and visited part of Coors Road to highlight efforts to protect bike lanes and add wider pedestrian paths, spearheaded with a $6.3 million grant to Bernalillo County.

Heinrich also announced in January that he was introducing, with co-sponsors, the Complete Streets Act. The legislation aims to improve the safety and accessibility of transportation routes across the nation. Under the act, local and regional entities can use funding from their state's Complete Streets Program to create safe street projects.

Infrastructure aside, what drivers do while behind the wheel is also of utmost importance, especially given statistics that reveal the plight of younger drivers.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Albuquerque has been ranked ninth or 10th in the nation for fatal crashes involving drivers ages 15 to 20 — Gen Z drivers. That's based on another analysis of NHTSA data by Jouro Research.

Staying safe

There are steps drivers can take to remain safe.

The University of New Mexico Transportation Safety Center helps train drivers to be better behind the wheel. The Center's Driver Education Curriculum lists the top contributing factors in crashes as: Driver inattention (which could include being distracted by a smartphone or other items in the car), failure to yield and following too closely.

The center's website lists the top factors contributing to fatal accidents as alcohol/drugs, driver inattention and excessive speed.

Training emphasizes complete control of your vehicle and improving driving habits through practice, practice, practice.

Local resident Tom Hasse, an avid cyclist, isn't surprised by the "worst driver" finding, though he has a different take on it.

Hasse, 63, of Nob Hill, abandoned Los Angeles to move to Albuquerque roughly 20 years ago and gave up his car sometime later. He's become a pedestrian and a bike rider. He said in the past few years he's seeing more distracted drivers on Albuquerque's roads.

On his bike, he has to constantly scan for safety, but he has a technique. "I always try to make eye contact with the driver. And the drivers are a little distracted and in their own world, and I can't make eye contact with them. I feel like jumping up and down doing jumping jacks."

There are still some positives in Albuquerque traffic, though. "I have to say, happily, very few times have I ever been stuck in a traffic jam," Hasse said.