Report: Knoxville ranks No.2 for worst drivers in Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Knoxville is one of the most dangerous Tennessee cities for drivers, according to a recent analysis of National Highway Transportation Safety Administration data. Only Memphis earned a worse rating in the ConsumerAffairs study.

ConsumerAffairs analyzed crash data from the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System from 2022 for Tennessee cities with a population of 50,000 or more.

Five crash factors were used to give each city a crash score and compile the rankings.

• Number of fatalities due to crashes per 100,000 people
• Number of crashes due to bad driving per 100,000 people
• Number of fatalities due to speeding per 100,000 people
• Number of fatalities due to driving under the influence per 100,000 people
• Number of fatalities involving positive blood alcohol content per 100,000 people

Knoxville had the third-highest rate of fatalities due to crashes per 100,000 in the state, trailing only Memphis and Kingsport. It also had the second-highest rate of fatalities due to positive blood alcohol content, at 10.42 per 100,000 people.

The rate of 28.77 fatal crashes per 100,000 people in Tennessee’s five deadliest cities far exceeded the national average of 12.84 per 100,000 people. The rates of crashes due to bad driving and fatalities involving a positive blood alcohol concentration in these cities were also more than double the national averages.

A 2023 ConsumerAffairs analysis ranked Memphis drivers as the worst in America.

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