Philadelphia sees lots of tourism yearly, and with good reason. It’s a fun city with museums, places of cultural significance, great sports venues, bars, and restaurants serving local cuisine. However, like every major city, it’s a place where many car accidents happen daily.
Philadelphia sees about 27 car accidents per day, and that probably won’t change anytime soon. Its size and the sheer number of people and cars keep those numbers consistent. You can’t always avoid a car accident in Philly if you have another driver acting unsafely, but you should at least know about some times and situations where wrecks frequently happen.
By keeping these times and scenarios in mind, you’ll know when to either stay off the streets or exercise more caution than normal while you’re behind the wheel.
Right After Major Sporting Events
Sporting events make Philly vibrant and exciting. You have the Phillies, Flyers, Eagles, and 76ers, as well as the respective venues where they play. Philly also sees many boxing, professional wrestling, and MMA events every year. You can count on many amateur sporting events happening around the city as well.
Any time there’s a major sporting event, like a baseball or football game, that attracts thousands of vehicles and fans. The attendees can often become boisterous. They might start consuming alcohol during tailgating events in the parking lot, and the libations may continue flowing throughout the game.
By the time the event concludes, you’ll probably have thousands of inebriated fans flooding the streets around the venue. They’re loud, intoxicated, and often more than ready to start trouble. Fights can break out, but car accidents also frequently occur during these moments.
If you’re driving right after a sporting event, don’t do so if you know or suspect you’re over the legal limit. Either don’t consume any alcohol if you drove to the game, or else designate a driver.
If you know you’ll drink alcohol while you’re there, you might also consider taking public transportation instead. Philly has many buses and a well-funded and extensive train system. You can use it on the days or evenings when you watch one of the city’s teams play.
If you drive after a game, do so with the utmost care. Know that even if you’re sober, others around you probably didn’t follow your lead.
Right After the Bars Close for the Night
As we mentioned earlier, Philly also has many well-known and venerable watering holes. You can find many of them along South Street, the city’s main drag, with many sandwich shops, boutiques, and other places tourists and locals love. When the bars let out every evening, though, that’s another situation where you have innumerable intoxicated patrons all trying to get home at the same time.
Some might try to drive if they’re irresponsible. You must watch out for these individuals, since they might swerve out of their lane, change lanes without signaling, attempt to run through yellow lights when they’re on the verge of turning red, and similar reckless behaviors. However, you must also keep your eyes open for any intoxicated pedestrians who might try to cross the street against traffic or do something else unpredictable.
You can try to stay away from areas with the highest concentration of bars when they close for the evening. If you’re going to be in those parts of town, you can also avoid driving, thereby eliminating the chance that you’ll get in an accident.
Instead, you can take public transportation. You might also grab an Uber or a taxi. That way, you still might get in an accident, but at least you’re giving someone else the driving responsibilities.
When There’s Bad Weather
Philly can see some nasty weather from time to time. You might sometimes witness violent rainstorms, particularly in the summer. Summer thunderstorms can drench the city, causing flash flooding in some low-lying areas.
In the winter, you might see significant snowstorms occasionally. Freezing rain and ice that make the streets slick can also occur. You might also sometimes see mist or fog in the right conditions.
These weather events can make driving difficult. Even if you put your car’s brights on, maybe you can’t see very far ahead of you. When there’s standing water or ice on the streets, your vehicle can skid, and you might lose control if you’re not careful.
Avoiding driving in these conditions makes sense if you can manage it. Either take public transportation or put off an errand unless you absolutely must do it. You might walk during this kind of weather, or you can stay off the streets entirely.
If you drive during bad weather events in Philly, go much slower than usual. You should go under the speed limit if you’re not very familiar with the city anyway. During potentially dangerous weather events, though, crawling along in your car means you won’t lose control as easily. You will also have more reaction time if you suddenly see a pedestrian or there is a driver who loses control near you.
Rush Hour
Rush hour in Philly represents another time when you might see many more cars on the road than normal, many of them with anxious drivers behind the wheel who just worked for a full day. They probably all want to get home to a hot meal and their loved ones, and they might speed up or get aggressive in traffic to do it.
If you’re on the freeways, stick to the speed limit and drive defensively. Obey the various traffic laws and watch out for kamikaze drivers who might honk their horns at you or switch lanes without signaling.
You should also ignore colorful hand gestures aimed your way if you see any. Returning the favor might trigger a road rage incident, so it’s better if you can just laugh it off without a retaliatory salvo.
These practices should keep you safe when you’re driving in the City of Brotherly Love.