Ontario’s safest cities for driving were revealed and you might not expect the top locations

A new ranking of the safest cities in Ontario for driving has been released.

If you’ve been on the road in these locations, you might be surprised by which cities made the top 10.

MyChoice, a Toronto-based insurtech company, recently put out a 2026 ranking of the Safest and Most Dangerous Cities for Driving in Ontario.

Over 200,000 car insurance quotes since 2020, including detailed accident and infraction records, were analyzed to identify where drivers have the highest and lowest risk levels across the province.

A weighted average of accidents and infractions (including distracted driving and speeding) with a 70/30 importance ratio was used to give each city a score between zero and five.

It’s meant to emphasize the relative severity of accidents while still accounting for the impact of traffic violations on road safety.

Then, the scores were used to rank the top 10 safest and most dangerous driving locations.

Here are the top 10 safest cities for driving in Ontario, according to MyChoice:

1. Toronto
2. Markham
3. Mississauga
4. Etobicoke
5. Ottawa
6. Niagara Falls
7. Waterloo
8. Scarborough
9. Richmond Hill
10. Whitby

MyChoice said that Toronto continues to rank as Ontario’s safest municipality for driving, with a score of 4.6 out of 5.

Whitby, which is 10th on the safest cities list, has a score of just 2.7 out of 5. That’s significantly lower than Toronto’s score, even though it’s one of the safest locations in the province.

There are a lot of cities in between the safest and most dangerous places to drive in Ontario.

Oakville, Milton, London, Guelph, Kitchener, Windsor, Brampton, Pickering, Sudbury, Oshawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Peterborough, Sarnia and Hamilton didn’t rank as the safest places, but didn’t make the most dangerous list either.

According to MyChoice, Brampton’s ranking has improved, and there are concerns about potential underreporting of accidents.

“Brampton’s accident rate appears materially lower relative to its infraction rate, which looks like an anomaly when compared to other cities,” the insurtech company said.

Here are the most dangerous cities in Ontario for driving in 2026:

1. Barrie
2. Burlington
3. Brantford
4. Kingston
5. Belleville
6. Ajax
7. Bradford
8. Thunder Bay
9. St. Catharines
10. North Bay

Barrie now ranks as the most dangerous city in Ontario for driving, with a score of 0.6 out of 5. It replaces Brantford at the top of this list for 2026.

“The change is driven primarily by elevated accident rates rather than infraction spikes,” the insurtech company said.

North Bay, which is the 10th most dangerous driving location in the province, has a score of 1.5 out of 5.

According to MyChoice, mid-sized cities like Kingston, Burlington, and Bradford have seen a drop in safety relative to previous years, mostly because of sustained high collision rates.

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This article’s cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.