Are Kansas City drivers among the worst in the nation? New study offers answers
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas City ranked sixth most dangerous for driving, up from 245th last year.
- Alcohol and speeding-related fatalities surged, tripling the national rate.
- Suburbs like Overland Park and Olathe are among the safest.
Kansas City drivers are among the most dangerous in the nation, according to a new study that reviewed traffic fatalities. Two neighboring communities also didn’t fare much better.
ConsumerAffairs, a news and research site, analyzed the latest National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash data and found Kansas City ranked sixth worst overall for dangerous driving.
What’s especially notable is Kansas City’s dramatic jump in the rankings.
“Quite a big jump from the 245th spot last year,” said Lauren Jobe, a media relations specialist with ConsumerAffairs.
Two key factors drove Kansas City to this dubious spot, Jobe said: speeding deaths and fatal crashes involving alcohol.
“But in Kansas City, we actually saw across all five metrics that we looked, they got worse in every single one,” Jobe said. “Those two that I mentioned first are really the biggest drivers, but all the other categories definitely played a part.”
Memphis claimed the top spot for the third year in a row. Other cities in the Top 10 are Knoxville, Tennessee; Waterbury, Connecticut; Aurora, Colorado; Tucson, Arizona; San Bernardino, California; Billings, Montana; Miami Gardens, Florida; and Charleston, South Carolina.
Closer to home, Kansas City, Kansas, was ranked No. 33, and Independence came in at No. 39. Meanwhile, suburban cities like Lee's Summit (No. 259), Olathe (No. 302) and Overland Park (No. 306), were among the safest places to drive out of the 327 cities compared.
What makes Kansas City so dangerous?
No other Midwest city ranks higher in dangerous driving than Kansas City in the study. The city’s overall traffic fatality rate was 19.28 per 100,000 residents, significantly higher than the national rate of 12.31.
Deaths attributed to speeding were especially alarming, according to the study. The rate more than tripled from 2.8 last year to 10.6 per 100,000 people this year, Jobe said. That’s the second-highest rate in the nation and about three times the national rate.
Kansas City also saw a big jump in the rate of fatalities where alcohol was detected, placing it the sixth highest in the nation. The rate shot up from 1.1 last year to 6.5 this year, Jobe said. That is about three times higher than the national rate of 2.5.
For fatal crashes involving “bad driving” behaviors, Kansas City’s rate was 7.08, higher than the national rate of 4.78.
Traffic fatalities involving drivers under the influence were 3.74 per 100,000 residents, compared to 1.95 nationally.
Looking at the other cities in the area, Kansas City, Kansas, saw an increase in both fatalities related to bad driving behavior as well as an overall increase in traffic deaths. It was deaths related to speeding that drove Independence higher in the rankings.
Olathe and Overland Park had zero traffic deaths attributed to drivers under the influence and where alcohol was detected. Overland Park is the only one that has seen a year-over-year improvement since ConsumerAffairs started the study in 2023.
How the worst drivers were determined
The study evaluated five crash factors, each measured per 100,000 people: total fatalities, crashes linked to “bad driving” behaviors, fatalities where alcohol was detected, deaths where a driver was under the influence, and fatalities from speeding.
Examples of bad driving, many of which can be witnessed daily on Kansas City’s roads, include aggressive driving, careless driving, driving the wrong way, failure to yield the right of way, tailgating, improper or erratic lane changing, illegal turns, reckless or negligent operation, driver inexperience and passing where prohibited, according to the study.
