Richmond’s the 10th-deadliest U.S. city for drunk driving, study finds

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Richmond is the 10th-deadliest city for drunk driving in America, according to a new study.

The Amanda Demanda Law Group ranked 100 cities across the United States for their "drunk driving danger," doing so by comparing data related to driving under the influence (DUI) -- including total arrests made and the death toll these crashes have had.

Each city was then given a score out of 100, with higher scores indicating higher levels of drunk driving danger.

The top three cities in this study were Memphis, Tennessee in first place, Detroit, Michigan in second and Houston, Texas in third, all with scores in the 80s.

Richmond came in at 10th, with a drunk driving danger score of 72.1. The study explains that this score came from a DUI arrest rate of 94, a drunk driving death rate of 88 per 100,000 residents and a 29% rate of deaths involving alcohol.

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"While Richmond is tough on drunk drivers, something more needs to be done to make the roads safer," the law group said.

Here's the full top-ten list of the most dangerous cities for drunk driving:

1. Memphis, Tennessee, with a score of 88.1
2. Detroit, Michigan, with a score of 84.1
3. Houston, Texas, with a score of 84.1
4. Nashville, Tennessee, with a score of 78.6
5. Charlotte, North Carolina, with a score of 78.3
6. Aurora, Colorado, with a score of 77.6
7. Denver, Colorado, with a score of 77.1
8. Dallas, Texas, with a score of 73
9. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a score of 72.6
10. Richmond, Virginia, with a score of 72.1

By contrast, the safest cities in regards to drunk driving were found to be Chandler, Arizona with a score of 7.1, Gilbert, Arizona with a score of 10.1 and Las Vegas, Nevada with a score of 18.6, per the study. Virginia's own Chesapeake came in at 5th-safest with a score of 19.1.