Colorado ranks third in the nation for “Worst Road Rage,” according to a survey by Forbes Advisor.
Drivers in the state were the third most likely in the nation to say “they had been followed by another driver who then exited their vehicle to yell at or fight with them,” the survey found. Some 46% of Coloradans surveyed said that they have been “insulted or threatened by other drivers.”
A Forbes team analyzed 10 key metrics from a survey of 5,000 people in the U.S., according to a news release.
Key finds mentioned in the survey include:
Utah tops the list of states with the most confrontational drivers.
More than 1 in 5 drivers have seen someone cause an accident due to road rage.
23% of drivers surveyed know of someone in their state who has been injured in a road rage incident.
Other states making the survey’s top 5 for worst road rage are Missouri, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Colorado scored 94.74 out of 100 possible points in the survey. Utah scored 100, according to the release.
Stay in your lane
Meanwhile, the Colorado State Patrol on Wednesday announced that “lane violations and impairment” are primary causes of 2022 fatal crashes in the state.
“Of the fatal crashes investigated by the Colorado State Patrol from January through July 2022, 21.6% were caused by a driver traveling outside of their designated lane and 18% were caused by a driver getting behind the wheel while impaired by alcohol, marijuana and/or other controlled substances,” the CSP news release said.
A driving safety campaign, Stay in Your Lane, is ongoing and troopers aim to bring to attention the three most common, and avoidable, behaviors that cause lane violations — driving aggressively, driving distracted and driving while impaired.
The state patrol used statewide data collected by investigators to identify the fatal crash trends. The CSP has responded to over 375 injury-related and fatal crashes in the first six months of 2022 due to lane violations.
“When you act rashly and irresponsibly behind the wheel, you are demonstrating your lack of concern for every grandparent, child, uncle and mother on the road with you,” Col. Matthew Packard said, in the release. “There is a reason we all went through hours of instruction and had to take a test to earn a license. It is a privilege and with it comes responsibility.”
Impaired driving is a “serious concern” in Colorado, the release said. Troopers have issued 2,936 citations statewide for impaired driving from January through July 2022.
“Law enforcement knows the telltale signs of impaired driving, like lane violations, and go out of their way to stop it because of the deadly consequences of this inexcusable choice to drive intoxicated,” Packard said. “As a result, being arrested for impaired driving imposes some of the harshest penalties and will have a significant impact on a person’s life.”
