Apparently, it could be worse. It probably will not make you feel any better as you sit in the parking lot that is just about every metro Atlanta road during rush hour, but a new study shows Atlanta is not the worst for drivers. For most of us, when we think of driving, we think of the crushing congestion that leaves you sitting on I-285. The reality however is driving includes much more than that – infrastructure (potholes and such), rate of accidents, cost of car ownership and maintenance and more.
As far as the traffic goes, Atlanta does rate quite low. Data from the American Community Survey shows that Atlanta is ranked 13th worst – perhaps not as bad as you thought. New York is ranked the worst. The average time per year a driver spends in traffic in New York is 133 hours per year. Comparatively, Atlanta is not quite so bad at a mere 108 hours per year. The data also showed that the average commute time is 32 minutes – does that seem low?
WalletHub took a look at all the factors that go into driving and ranked the best and worst cities to drive in. The Bureau of Transportation says that 87% of daily trips take place in the car – 86.4% to be precise in Atlanta. Drivers spend on average more than 310 hours on the road each year – nearly 2 weeks of the year is just in your car. The collective cost of driving is about $124 billion per year.
WalletHub looked at everything from average gas prices to the annual hours in traffic to auto-repair shops per capita. If you take away the traffic part of the equation, Atlanta does quite well really.
Raleigh is ranked tops in the country overall, they are also ranked tops in cost of ownership and maintenance rank. Their access to vehicles and maintenance rank is low at 62 but safety rank is number 8 and traffic and infrastructure is also high at 19th. Their overall score is several points higher than the number two city of Orlando.
Atlanta is ranked 15th overall – for best cities for drivers. Atlanta is ranked very high at 10th for ownership and maintenance costs, 8th in access to vehicles and maintenance and 23rd in traffic and infrastructure. Perhaps all that time in traffic contributes to some frustration and complacency out on the road though because Atlanta is only ranked 88th for safety.
As Atlanta continues to grow, this ranking could get worse – but the good news is that the factors that lead to the high ranking will likely continue. Apparently we are a friendly market for Jiffy Lubes and Havoline Expresses. Costs of owning a car are not likely to change much either.
Will any of this even matter when we get self-driving cars? Maybe not. But the dream of the self-driving car is probably a long way away. Asked when there will be more self-driving cars than human driven, Lester Hoel, an engineering professor at the University of Virginia summed it up succinctly, “Not any time soon.”
