Calgary is best city in world for drivers, survey says

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Calgary has been judged the best major city on the planet in which to drive a vehicle.

Though regular commuters in the city might be surprised by such a high ranking, the annual survey, which is conducted out of the U.K., placed Calgary No. 1 among 100 cities from around the globe that were tested.

The annual survey is sponsored by the Mister Auto company, based out of Britain. This year’s rankings included five Canadian cities as part of its examination of 15 factors that contribute to the average motorist’s daily experience.

Ottawa came in third in this year’s listings, while Vancouver placed sixth, Montreal 28th and Toronto 51st. Meanwhile, the worst place to drive among the 100 cities was Mumbai, India.

“We understand that many people spend a great deal of their lives behind the wheel. Considering that drivers lose over 200 hours a year commuting in the U.S. alone, we decided to delve into the multiple factors that affect motorists on a daily basis,” said the survey administrators.

“From infrastructure and congestion to driver behaviour, our comprehensive study takes a deeper look into cities, which are successfully utilizing infrastructure and legislation to improve conditions for vehicle users.

“We began by collecting data for hundreds of cities worldwide, which was whittled down to a shortlist of 100 cities. Each of these provided reliable and extensive data, which also allowed for a wide range of scores, from excellent to needing improvement, with regards to their achievement in each factor.”

The study was divided into three categories: infrastructure, safety and costs.

To determine a city’s infrastructure factors, such as the number of cars per capita, traffic congestion, road and public transport quality were examined. Then, air-quality levels were taken into account, as well as accident fatality rates and the various costs involved in being a motorist.

Finally, a poll was conducted in each city focusing on incidents of road rage to examine the aggressiveness and general driving culture in different locations: Osaka, Japan, proved the nicest place on the planet to be behind the wheel.

Calgary scored highly in each of the 15 categories and topped the polling in the city speed score, which measures how quickly a motorist can get from one area of a city to another.

The Canadian cities scored best in the air-quality measurement.

However, when it came to the cost of parking, they didn’t do nearly so well.