The theory that Colorado drivers are some of the worst in the nation now has data to back it up.

Insurer Nationwide said that it analyzed data from its SmartRide telematics program, which installs a small device in cars, tracks a user’s driving habits, including hard braking, fast acceleration and nighttime driving.

The results?

Colorado drivers have a high frequency of suddenly speeding up – an indicator of dangerous behavior, said Larry Thursby, Nationwide’s vice president who oversees the telematics program.

The most aggressive driving is on Thursdays, especially during the morning commute. On weekends, bad-driving habits peak on Sundays.

Nationwide said drivers in the state have “among the worst driving habits,” and said drivers in Washington D.C., New York, Arizona and Pennsylvania have similar habits.

The data comes from 40,000 current drivers in Nationwide’s program and over 3 million drivers that have gone through the program.

Of course, the data doesn’t mesh with another recent survey by Kars4Kids. The New Jersey nonprofit deemed Colorado drivers the seventh most polite nationwide. Far from slamming on brakes, the study said Coloradans are more likely than others in the nation to let another car merge in heavy traffic and have patience when someone is tailgating.

Many readers disagreed with that study.

What does mesh are other reports that support Colorado as having some of the worst drivers in the nation.

In December, insurance-comparison site Quote Wizard ranked Denver as the eighth worst driving state, as measured by auto accidents, drunk driving cases, speeding tickets and traffic citations. At least Denver became less worse by June, when QuoteWizard bumped the city down a spot to ninth worst drivers in the nation.

Another insurer, Allstate, takes a more optimistic approach: It currently ranks Denver as the 131st safest driving city in the nation out of 200 metro areas.

But if you read the fine print, Allstate notes that Denver drivers fared worse than the national average. Denver drivers had an average of 8.2 years between claims, compared to the national average of 10. Drivers here also “hard brake” 20 times for every 1,000 miles, compared to the national average of 19. Denver also is less safe than last year’s Allstate results, when the city was 14 spots higher.

Maybe we Denver drivers can just blame bad roads. An analysis last year by data-research firm Inrix found that Interstate 25 congestion qualified the 15.7 mile stretch between Colorado Boulevard and 84th Avenue as the nation’s 50th worst traffic corridor.