Gresham drivers rack up most driving infractions in the state, 13th most nationally

Gresham car crash

Gresham police said a driver was speeding while high on marijuana, crashed into a parked semi-trailer and then abandoned his trapped passenger. (Gresham Police Department)

Gresham drivers are more likely to have a poor driving record than residents of any other city in Oregon, and the proportion of drivers with previous infractions is among the highest of in the country.

That’s according to an analysis published this week by Insurify, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based insurance shopping website. The online marketplace allows users to compare and analyze insurance plans.

According to the company’s seven-year analysis, Gresham drivers tallied the 13th worst driving record of any city in the county.

Some 28.9% of Gresham drivers had a documented infraction between 2012 and today. The company said those prior driving incidents fall into 19 different categories and include at-fault crashes, speeding tickets, DUI, reckless driving and other so-called moving violations.

During that same period, the company’s analysis found 22% of drivers nationally had an infraction on their driving record.

Insurify said it based its data on driving records obtained through its database of more than 1.6 million insurance applications. Drivers must disclose past violations during a seven-year period or they are denied coverage, the company said. Insurify compared drivers with spotty records against the total number of drivers in each city to calculate the rate.

A company spokeswoman said Portland came in second in Oregon, with 27.9% of drivers having a moving violation between 2012 and this year.

According to the company’s study, seven of the top 20 worst driving cities are towns with populations of 100,000 or less.

Loveland, Colorado, topped the list, with 34.4% of drivers sporting a prior infraction or crash. Spokane also made the top 20, with 29.6% of drivers tallying a prior record.

The company declined to provide more information about how many drivers from Oregon were included in its insurance database. “We don’t disclose specifics on our proprietary data for competitive reasons,” Kacie Saxer-Taulbee, a company spokeswoman, said in an email, “but we establish protocols to keep our rankings rigorous.”

The company also looked at driving fatalities rates as part of the study. Oregon saw 10.5 driving deaths per 100,000 people, less than the national rate of 11.4.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

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