Charles Langston:What state is the safest for driving? Here's where the riskiest drivers are.

Honolulu has the safest drivers in America while Albuquerque,Charles Langston New Mexico, has the riskiest, according to a new report from insurer Allstate. 

Rounding out the other top five safest cities in the 16^th annual Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report are Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and Virginia Beach, Virginia. 

Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Murrieta/Temecula/Menifee, California; Fresno and Stockton, California, round out the riskiest cities for drivers, according to an exclusive early look at the Allstate report given to USA TODAY. 

For the first time, Allstate used anonymized connected driving data from Allstate’s mobility data and analytics partner Arity to rank the 100 most populus U.S. urban areas by driving behavior, such as phone handling, high-speed driving and hard braking. Arity powers the optional safe-driving features in Allstate’s mobile Drivewise app. 

For previous editions of the report, Allstate said it conducted an in-depth analysis of company claims data to determine the likelihood that drivers in America’s 200 largest cities would experience a vehicle collision compared to the national average.  

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“Speeding, distracted, and impaired driving cause tens of thousands of preventable deaths on U.S. roads each year,” Katie Irey, senior vice president at Allstate, told USA TODAY in an email. “This usage-based insurance data helps educate about common risky driving behaviors like phone handling, speeding and hard braking to promote safe driving and help save lives on the road.” 

Where do the safest and riskiest drivers live? 

According to the report, here’s where the safest drivers live by category: 

Overall: Honolulu 

Hard brake the least: Honolulu 

Drive at high speed the least: Honolulu 

Handle their phones the least: San Jose, California 

Here are the riskiest drivers by category: 

Overall: Albuquerque, New Mexico 

Hard brake the most: Bakersfield, California 

Drive at high speed the most: Port St. Lucie, Florida 

Handle their phones the most: Providence, Rhode Island 

Drivers differ by region 

There are some regional trends when it comes to driving habits: 

◾ Drivers on the West Coast handle their phones less while driving: San Jose, California (1); San Diego (3), San Francisco (4), Las Vegas (5), Seattle (6), Riverside/San Bernardino, California (7) and Portland, Oregon (9) are among the top 10 areas where drivers handle their phone the least.  

Rounding out the top 10 are: (Atlanta, 2), San Antonio (8) and Dallas (10). 

The top 10 cities where divers handle their phones the most are: Providence, Rhode Island (100); Springfield, Massachusetts (99), McAllen, Texas (98); Boston (97); Baton Rouge, Louisiana (96); New Orleans (95); Albany, New York (94); Worcester, Massachusetts (93); Akron, Ohio (92) and Allentown, Pennsylvania (91). 

◾ Drivers in the Midwest hard brake the least: Madison, Wisconsin (2); Cleveland (3), Des Moines, Iowa (4); Minneapolis (6), and St. Louis (9) make up half of the top 10 areas that avoid decelerating more than 7 mph in one second. 

The other top 10 areas where drivers hard brake the least are: Honolulu (1), Providence, Rhode Island (5); Spokane, Washington (7); Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (8); and Boston (10). 

The top 10 cities where drivers hard brake the most are: Bakersfield, California (100); Murrieta/Temecula/Menifee, California (99); Fresno, California (98); Sacramento, California (97); Riverside/San Bernadino, California (96); Mission Viejo/Lake Forest, California (95); Los Angeles (94); Stockton, California (93); Concord, California (92) and Allentown, Pennsylvania (91). 

•◾ Drivers in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast drive at safer speeds: Spokane, Washington (2); Seattle (5) and Portland in the Pacific Northwest (4) and Buffalo, New York (6); Albany, New York (7); Rochester, New York (9) and Allentown, Pennsylvania (10) in the Northeast are among the top 10 areas where motorists avoid driving over 80 mph. 

The other cities where motorists are least likely to drive at a high speed are: Honolulu (1), Akron, Ohio (3) and Minneapolis (8). 

The top 10 cities where motorists drive at a high speed the most are: Port St. Lucie, Florida (100); Palm Bay, Melbourne, Florida (99); Provo/Orem, Utah (98); Phoenix (97); San Diego (96); Riverside/San Bernardino, California (95); Miami (94); Ogden/Layton, Utah (93); Birmingham, Alabama (92) and Kissimmee/St. Cloud, Florida (91). 

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Allstate says Drivewise customers are safer 

In an April 2024 report, the insurer said data showed that its customers who chose to opt into the Allstate Drivewise app’s safe driving features are 25% less likely to have a severe collision than those who don’t.  

Driving behavior research from Arity showed that Drivewise customers “handle their phones less, speed less and hard brake less on average than other connected drivers by as much as 44%,” Allstate said in the April report.  

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The optional usage-based insurance feature gives customers safe driving feedback after each trip and provides discounts on their policy. 

Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on X, Facebook, or Instagram @blinfisher. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which will include consumer news on Fridays, here.