A report released earlier this month by LendingTree sought to determine where the best and worst drivers were located in the United States. Sure to be a shock to local residents, Coloradans landed among the best of the best.

The report utilized auto insurance inquiries from January 1 through September 30 to produce a final ranking, looking at how many driving incidents occurred per 1,000 drivers and how that varied by state. ‘Driving incidents’ encompassed four different categories – accidents, DUIs, speeding-related incidents, and general citations (infractions like failure to signal, having defective equipment, and improper lane usage).

Once the numbers were crunched, data revealed that Coloradans ranked as the third-best drivers nationwide, behind only those in Michigan (ranking 1st) and those in Florida (ranking 2nd). Those driving in Colorado were determined to have 23.7 driving incidents per 1,000 drivers – Michigan had the lowest at 20.9 and North Dakota had the most at 64.

In terms of accident data, Colorado ranked the second-lowest, with 11.7 accidents per 1,000 drivers. Meanwhile, the state ranked fifth in terms of DUIs (0.7 per 1,000 drivers) and 11th in terms of speeding incidents (1.8 per 1,000 drivers).

Digging deeper into the data, LendingTree also provided a look at where the best and worst drivers were located at the city-by-city level.

The best drivers in Colorado were determined to be as follows, based on incidents per 1,000 drivers:

• Centennial: 4.6 incidents per 1,000
• Highland Ranch: 5.8 incidents per 1,000
• Lakewood: 6.2 incidents per 1,000
• Boulder: 9.5 incidents per 1,000
• Arvada: 10.3 incidents per 1,000

Meanwhile, here are the cities where the most incidents per 1,000 drivers took place:

• Windsor: 23 incidents per 1,000
• Greeley: 20.2 incidents per 1,000
• Brighton: 19.8 incidents per 1,000
• Thornton: 18.1 incidents per 1,000
• Erie: 17.8 incidents per 1,000

Another interesting takeaway from the report was that the number of driving incidents mostly dropped off with age. Gen Z (born 1997 to 2012) had 61.4 incidents per 1,000 drivers. Millennials (born 1981 to 1996) had 23.2. Gen X (born 1965 to 1980) had the fewest number of driving incidents at 16.2 per 1,000 drivers. Boomers (born 1946 to 1964) had 18.7 – more than Gen X, but fewer than Millennials. The Silent Generation (born 1928 to 1945) had 18.1.

Find Lending Tree’s full report related to the entire country here and find their in-depth look at Colorado here.

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