New York leads Chicago, Houston in parked car hit-run ratio
New York cars are struck twice as often by hit-and-run drivers when parked than when in transit, according to Allstate Corp., the largest publicly traded auto insurer in the U.S.
Seventy percent of New York's hit-and-run crashes involved parked cars in 2009, the Northbrook-based insurer said today in a statement. That is a higher rate than any of the four other largest U.S. cities, Allstate said. Houston had the lowest rate among the top five at 57 percent. Chicago and Phoenix had 67 percent rates, Allstate said. The U.S. average is 69 percent.
Large cities tend to have higher overall accident rates because they are more congested, Allstate said. Gene Floyd, a New York corporate chauffeur, who said his car has been hit six times while parked in the past two decades, said drivers find it easier to leave the scene of a crash when they hit an unoccupied vehicle.
"When a tree falls in the forest, no one hears it," Floyd said today in an interview on Manhattan's East Side. Floyd said his 2009 Mercedes was struck this month by a truck used for washing windows while he was standing outside Loews Corp.'s Regency Hotel. "He made a quick left and a right and kept going," Floyd said. "I thought, 'Not again.'"
Drivers should leave a note explaining what happened if they strike an unoccupied car, Allstate said. The company advises victims to contact their insurer immediately, take photos of the damage and interview witnesses, getting their contact information so they can be reached later.
Of the more than 37,000 traffic fatalities in the U.S. in 2008, there were 447 hit-and-runs involving moving vehicles, and 91 hit-and-run fatalities included a parked or stopped car, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. There were 1,001 hit-and-run fatalities caused by a driver striking a person not in a car, such as a pedestrian or cyclist.
Krissy Posey, an Allstate spokeswoman, declined to comment on why some cities had a higher percentage of hit-and-run accidents involving parked cars. She said more populated cities usually have higher accident rates.
Floyd, 49, said that after the most recent crash, he got into his Mercedes and chased the truck for three blocks before forcing the driver to pull over and exchange information. He is now in the process of settling the claim, he said.
Babette Bandler, 70, said her car was struck five years ago in front of a New York restaurant. "It was so upsetting that someone would just drive away," she said. "At the very least you can exchange information. They just felt that they could get away with it because it was parked."