Rant: Bad Colorado Drivers

This week, the insurance comparison site QuoteWizard confirmed what we’ve long suspected: Coloradans are pretty lousy drivers. Just in time for the holiday travel season, the company compiled statistics for accidents, DUIs, speeding tickets, and road fatalities and concluded that Colorado has the eighth-worst collection of motorists in the nation. (A similar study from CarInsuranceComparison.com, which weighed the same factors differently, named Colorado drivers the 11th worst.) The primary factor shooting us toward the “top” of this ignominious list is traffic citations—We’re number 1!—and we also ranked 10th-worst for speeders and 11th-worst for DUIs. None of this will surprise anyone who’s been T-boned at an intersection or almost clipped someone because the other driver doesn’t understand that the little lever on the left is a turn signal.

Living in the West seems to correlate to bad driving: Seven of the 10 worst-ranked states are to the left of the Mississippi River. Maybe it’s all this wide-open space, our libertarian tendency to flout laws we consider stupid or inconvenient, or the preponderance of SUVs, pickups, and other large vehicles, but when it comes to driving responsibly, we’re doing it wrong.

(Check out our compilation of nine types of winter drivers we dislike.) 

Rave: Platform T

When a vehicular incident leaves you feeling homicidal, what better way to soothe those frayed nerves than with a cup of tea? Platform T has just the elixir you need. The nearly year-old burgeoning franchise has stores in Glendale and Baker—with plans to expand to more than 30 in the coming decade in and around Colorado—that serve classic and unique teas, as well as light breakfasts, lunches, desserts, and tea-infused cocktails. Grab yourself a Lavender Melissa, Jasmine Pearl, or a fruity Silver Needle, sip the calming herbs, and revive yourself before you head back out to those mean streets.