It’s no secret that there’s a bit of a ‘drinking culture’ in Colorado, perhaps made most obvious by the booming craft beer scene that the state has to offer. That said, it can’t be stressed enough how important it is to be responsible in terms of drinking and driving, abiding by rules related to operating a vehicle while intoxicated, managing consumption, and not hesitating to utilize a sober designated driver when necessary.

The state of drunk driving in Colorado was highlighted in a recent report published by Amanda Demanda Law Group that used data from the CDC and NHTSA to determine which places around the country see the most impacts from this criminal act. While Memphis ended up ranking as the worst place nationwide in terms of drunk driving, several Colorado cities weren’t far behind.

Three key metrics were included in the report – the number of drunk driving arrests, the number of drunk driving fatalities, and the percentage of traffic deaths that involve drunk driving.

Ranking as the 6th most problematic spot when it comes to drunk driving on a list of 98 places found nationwide was Aurora. While Aurora was shown to have a relatively low number of drunk driving arrests per capita compared to other top-ranking worst spots, its number of drunk driving fatalities per capita and the share of traffic deaths that involve alcohol were among the highest on the list.

Denver was right there with Aurora, too, ranking 7th overall as the second Colorado spot to land among the ‘top 10’ worst places for drunk driving. Of the ‘top 10’ worst places, states of Colorado, Texas, and Tennessee made up six of those spots – two cities in each state. Much like Aurora, Denver had a high share of its fatal accidents involving someone driving while intoxicated – slightly higher than Aurora, too.

Colorado Springs was also dubbed a problematic spot for drunk driving, ranking 12th overall. While Colorado Springs scored the lowest among the three Colorado spots on the list in terms of drunk driving arrests, it had the highest share of the trio when it came to traffic fatalities involving an intoxicated driver.

The best place nationwide in terms of spots that lack drunk drivers was determined to be Chandler, Arizona.

A total of 98 cities were ultimately included in the full ranking, with those cities selected for having high numbers of commuter vehicles among locals.

Do you think this report highlights the reality of Colorado’s drunk driving problem? Let us know in the comments.

Find the full report on the Amanda Demanda Injury Lawyers website.

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