San Antonio is one of the 10 biggest cities in the country, and it’s got some of the most dangerous roads.
That’s according to traffic data and analytics company StreetLight, which published a new “U.S. Safe Streets Index” ranking 100 metro areas across the country. San Antonio placed 83rd, making it one of the least safe.
To work out the rankings, researchers collected data from various sources, such as the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. They scored each metro area across five key road safety factors, listed below.
1. Vehicle miles traveled
As the highest weighted factor in the study’s ranking, vehicle miles traveled reflects how much San Antonio drivers actually drive — and “more driving exposure creates more danger for those inside and outside the vehicle,” the study reads. With long stretches of sprawling highways splayed out in every direction, San Antonio drivers often have to travel miles to get to their destination, thus hiking up the city’s VMT risk factor to a score of 89 out of 100 points.
2. Speed differential risk
According to the study, speed differential risk measures the difference between vehicle speed on the same roadway. This is a key factor because “differences in the speeds of vehicles traveling on the same roads create especially dangerous conditions,” researchers wrote. In San Antonio, vehicle speeds on the city’s complex highways system can vary greatly from lane to lane, raising the city’s speed differential risk factor to a score of 61 out of 100 points…