IS IT MORE DANGEROUS TO DRIVE IN COLLEGE TOWNS?

Many people assume that college students aren’t very good drivers, meaning that driving through a college down could be far more dangerous than a city that isn’t centered around an institution of higher learning. The assumption is that college students are reckless, that they’re more likely to be drunk, that they’re always texting and driving and that this behavior causes accidents at all hours of the day. So, is it true, or is it just an unfair stereotype of college students?

While it’s undeniable that the situations described above have happened, the overall stats have actually shown that college towns are not more dangerous than others. In fact, in one study that revealed the five safest cities for drivers, two big college towns were in the top five.

Those towns were Fort Collins, Colorado, which was not only the safest city, but is also centered around Colorado State University, and Madison, Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsin and fifth on the list.

Of course, there are factors connected to college towns that influence accidents, and police have said that most crashes simply happen in congested areas. If the college brings in people and causes the area to be congested, there could be an increase in accidents.

However, police did not find that students caused those wrecks more than any other drivers, and they said that age didn’t have as much of an impact as volume of vehicle.

Have you been injured in an accident in Pennsylvania? Whether it was caused by a college-aged driver or not, you need to know what rights you have to compensation for your injuries.

Source: USA Today, “Is driving in a college town more dangerous than other cities?,” Shayna Posses, accessed Jan. 29, 2016