Colorado tops nation in road rage according to new study

Despite the state being known for its laidback nature, Colorado drivers are some of the angriest, according to a new study.

Malloy Law Offices, based in Bethesda, Md., determined that Colorado had the highest “Road Rage Score,” calculated through data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The score consisted of six different categories, including the number of incidents involving gun violence and the number of fatalities attributed to aggressive driving, that were individually weighed to determine a final “Road Rage Score.”

Colorado received a score of 65.93, the highest in the country.

“One major factor that might be driving this rage is traffic congestion, particularly in urban areas like Denver,” said Seann Malloy, managing partner of Malloy Law Offices, in a release. “This issue is worsening as the city gets bigger and more densely populated, leading to frustrated drivers battling bottlenecks on a daily basis.”

Malloy also said in the release that he believed Colorado’s unpredictable weather contributed to driver stress.

In the past few months, there have been several violent road rage incidents in the state. In January, a pedestrian was seriously injured in a hit-and-run in Commerce City and a 30-year-old man was killed in a road rage incident on New Year’s Day in Westminster. Last year, a Denver man was sentenced to 10 years for a 2020 road rage assault, while another man’s murder charges were dropped for a 2023 road rage-related shooting on I-25 after the killings were determined to be done in self-defense.

The number of people fatally shot in road rage incidents increased from 58 in 2018 to 118 in 2023 and the number of road rage-related gun injuries increased from 160 in 2018 to 365 in 2023, according to the study.

Colorado State Patrol warns not to engage with aggressive drivers as this can lead to escalation. According to CSP, the best thing drivers can do with an aggressive driver is create space, avoid eye contact and contact CSP via a hands-free device or a passenger.

Not all of the Rocky Mountain states struggle with road rage. Colorado’s neighbor state, Wyoming, lies on the opposite side of the ranking, receiving only a 21.58. The study attributes this second-lowest score to Wyoming’s open spaces and lack of rush-hour traffic. On the East Coast, New Hampshire received the lowest score in the country, with an overall score of only 17.58.

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