@Philip

I fully understand what your analysis was comparing, my concern is what you excluded. You excluded far too many variables for this article to be credible...for your own sake you should yank the article.

A couple examples of what you forgot...
Since you didn't note it specifically, and I don't have the time to verify your statistics, I'll assume that your traffic stats were for the entire country. Your crime stats for 440100 are looking at only 9324 people. I don't want to make any grand assumptions...but here I'll assume that the Chicago area mentioned is most likely ethnically/racially homogeneous and probably poverty stricken.

Another big factor you missed is that not everyone drives alike. I pride myself on being a good driver. With no accidents, I feel that the probability of myself getting into an accident is far less than say Joe down the street who drives like a maniac.

Personal story:
A number of years ago I went with a group of people on a missions trip to inner city Chicago...long story short, I wouldn't want to live there no matter how close to work I was. Fact of the matter is that the gangsters that flooded the streets wanted what they thought I had...even though I brought nothing with me but the clothes on my back...and a toothbrush.

I wish I had the time and resources to truly analyze this, but my guess is that commuting is still far safer when all the facts are presented and all the variables are taken into account.

I have tried to remain respectful, but for the record, I am disgusted at the irresponsibility you have shown in this article. Lord willing, no one will heed your advice.