THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Frayer
TORONTO — The safest place to drive in Ontario -- it's Brockville. An insurance company says Brockville has the lowest collision rate of 45 Ontario communities surveyed in its Ontario Safe Driving Study. Rounding out the five safest communities in the Allstate Canada survey are Welland, Chatham, Amherstburg and St. Thomas. Five Greater Toronto Area communities -- Bolton, Markham, Toronto, Thornhill and Brampton -- had the highest collision rates in the province. Northern Ontario continues to be the region where drivers have the lowest crash frequency rate, with Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and Greater Sudbury all in the top 10. Belleville topped the previous list but dropped to 13th place, while North Bay dropped from 14th spot to 32nd. The Ontario Safe Driving Study looked at collision frequencies and ranked them based on Allstate Canada claims data for 2009-2011 and also compared them to data from 2007-2009. Only communities where Allstate Canada insured a minimum of 900 cars between 2009 and 2011 are ranked and rankings were based solely on Allstate Canada's car collision frequency data. Allstate said collision rates in the province dropped seven per cent from 2007-09 to 2009-11. "We are pleased to see the overall decrease in Ontario's collision rate and hope to see this trend continue," said Tony Irwin, spokesperson for Allstate Canada. There will be an event Tuesday in Brockville to congratulate the city's drivers for having Ontario's lowest collision rate.