These cities have the riskiest drivers in the U.S., study finds
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(NEXSTAR) – For those who have long suspected that drivers in their city may be the worst in the U.S., this ranking is for you.
As part of its "America's Best Drivers Report," Allstate ranked motorists in the 100 most populous cities based on data from Arity, which powers the company's optional safe driving program. Arity uses mobile device sensors to track on-the-road behaviors such as hard braking, high-speed driving (above 80 mph) and cellphone handling. All data is based on the location of the trip, not where the driver lives, Allstate pointed out.
Drivers in the Midwest did better than most when it comes to hard braking (decelerating more than 7 mph in one second), with Madison, Cleveland, Des Moines, Minneapolis and St. Louis all in the top 10 for that category. Bakersfield, California is the hard-breaking capitol of the U.S., Arity data showed.
In general, drivers in western U.S. cities such as San Jose, San Diego, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Bernardino and Portland tended to do a better job of not handling their phone while on the road, while those in Providence, Rhode Island were the worst.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, drivers tended to keep their speed down in the Pacific Northwest cities of Seattle, Spokane and Portland, which are known for their rainfall. Data from the Northeast showed a similar pattern, with Buffalo, Albany, Rochester and Allentown making the the top 10. The most egregious speeding happens in Port St. Lucie, Florida, according to Allstate.
As for the worst city overall when it comes to risky driving, Albuquerque took the dubious 100th spot. See the top 10 below:
| Rank (out of 100) | City | Hard Braking Rank | High Speed Rank | Phone Handling Rank |
| 91 | Tucson, AZ | 82 | 51 | 76 |
| 92 | Grand Rapids, MI | 60 | 88 | 66 |
| 93 | Denton, TX | 78 | 82 | 57 |
| 94 | Memphis, TN | 85 | 72 | 62 |
| 95 | Birmingham, AL | 63 | 92 | 65 |
| 96 | Stockton, CA | 93 | 84 | 44 |
| 97 | Fresno, CA | 98 | 53 | 72 |
| 98 | Murrieta/Temecula/Menifee, CA | 99 | 71 | 56 |
| 99 | Baton Rouge, LA | 83 | 50 | 96 |
| 100 | Albuquerque, NM | 80 | 65 | 87 |
As for the least risky drivers in America, they can be found in these 10 cities, according to Allstate:
| Rank (out of 100) | City | Hard Braking Rank | High Speed Rank | Phone Handling Rank |
| 1 | Honolulu, HI | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 2 | Minneapolis, MN | 6 | 8 | 13 |
| 3 | Seattle, WA | 22 | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | Portland, OR | 38 | 4 | 9 |
| 5 | Virginia Beach, VA | 32 | 11 | 14 |
| 6 | Richmond, VA | 21 | 30 | 22 |
| 7 | Spokane, WA | 7 | 2 | 69 |
| 8 | Washington, DC | 49 | 12 | 17 |
| 9 | Harrisburg, PA | 8 | 45 | 35 |
| 10 | Reno, NV | 41 | 14 | 33 |
Find your city and see the full report on Allstate's website.
Risky driving has deadly consequences, and some of the same worst-offender cities in Allstate's report also appeared in a Consumer Reports study on the cities with the highest rate of deadly car accidents.
Consumer Affairs looked at the most recent fatality data (2021) from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation and found that Memphis had the highest per capita rate of deadly crashes caused by bad driving (32.3 per 100K), followed by Baton Rouge (20.7 per 100K) and Albuquerque (14.4 per 100K).