How bad is Colorado’s road rage compared to other states?

Heather Willard
·2 min read
23

DENVER (KDVR) — Life is a highway, but Colorado’s highways are some of the more dangerous places to drive in the U.S., according to an analysis by ConsumerAffairs.

The site compared rates of speeding/careless driving tickets, crashes, fatalities and traffic incidents that involved gun violence to see which state had the most reckless drivers. Unfortunately, Colorado ranked in the top five.

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Some of it can be attributed to road rage, according to the report. Having enough space on the road is also a factor the analysts considered: Montana may have more room to breathe on its roadways, but there was a concerning amount of road rage incidents involving firearms.

According to the study, Louisiana ranked first in having the worst road rage of the 50 states, with aggressive and careless driving accounting as a factor in 62% of the state’s crashes. It also has a high rate of fatalities, with 11.55 crashes per 100,000 residents resulting in death.

Here’s how the top five states unfolded:

  1. Louisiana

  2. New Mexico

  3. Montana

  4. Colorado

  5. Arkansas

How does Colorado rank for road rage?

Colorado’s scenic roadways might bring a feeling of peace, but according to the study, Denver’s traffic congestion was enough to bring the state high in the rankings.

Colorado had 7.41 fatal crashes because of aggressive/careless driving per 100,000 residents, and almost 62% of crashes were because of aggressive/careless driving, the study found. It also said there are about 0.81 road rage incidents with a gun per 100,000 residents.

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That means Colorado’s armed road rage incidents are nearly double the national average, although efforts to combat aggressive driving with harsh citations seem to have resulted in fewer fatal crashes.

In January, Colorado State Patrol said almost 30,000 aggressive drivers were reported to the agency only last year. Usually, the *CSP call program’s highest category is for DUI or suspected impairment, but in 2023, aggressive drivers beat out impaired driver reports.

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