3 Phoenix

Fatal car accidents in metro area: 291
City-by-city breakdown: Phoenix, 167; Casa Grande, 7; Chandler, 12; Gilbert, 6; Glendale, 20; Maricopa, 2; Mesa, 36; Peoria, 5; Scottsdale, 11; Surprise, 5

Phoenix has a lot in common with Dallas and Houston as a sprawling and post-WWII booming metropolis. Interestingly, Mesa’s data flies in the face of what you’d expect. Per NHTSA data, 65 is the age at which fatality accidents begin to climb, and Mesa has almost double the rate of elderly drivers (65+) than Phoenix proper. Still, Mesa’s per-capita fatal accident rate is quite a bit lower than its larger neighbor.

2. Los Angeles

Fatal car accidents in metro area: 316
City-by-city breakdown: Los Angeles, 213; Anaheim, 17; Glendale, 8; Huntington Beach, 12; Irvine, 10; Long Beach, 27; Santa Ana, 24; Santa Clarita, 5

LA, as with the other suburb-heavy cities, sees a third of its fatal accidents outside of city limits, but really, when you consider the large population and the number of cars, 316 isn’t as bad as some of the other cities on this list.

1.New York

Fatal car accidents in metro area: 344
City-by-city breakdown: Bronx, 50; Brooklyn, 84; Edison, 8; Jersey City, 4; Manhattan, 45; Mount Vernon, 3; New Rochelle, 3; Newark, 24; Paterson, 5; Queens, 91; Staten Island, 11; Union, 3; Woodbridge Township, 3; Yonkers, 7

While the per-capita accident rate seems, as with LA, kinda low for NY, it’s very interesting that one of the least car-dependent cities in the US should have so many severe collisions. Makes us wonder how many of these were taxi related.

*The cities included mostly follow the Office of Management and Budget guidelines, though suburbs of significant size and relatively new growth were included, to account for the dated nature of the OMB’s 2010 census data. Some large suburbs were not listed; this represents zero fatal accidents recorded by the NHTSA. The most recent NHTSA data is reflected here, which covers the 2013 calendar year.