Miles Blumhardt

milesblumhardt@coloradoan.com

If you've often complained Colorado drivers are the worst while idling in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Interstate 25 or yelled to no one but yourself why the vehicle in front of you on Berthoud Hill won't move to the right lane, you would be wrong.

Colorado drivers are the 18th worst in the country, at least according to CarInsurancecomparison.com statistics. But we are getting better. Last year, we were ranked 11th worst.

The rankings are based on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics such as fatality rates per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, seat belt usage, blowing red lights, drunk driving, speeding and careless driving.

Just be glad you don't live in Montana, where drivers can factually complain their drivers are the worst, an honor they garnered for the second consecutive year. The Big Sky Country state may be sparsely populated, but when vehicles meet they end in fatal crashes at a higher rate than any other state. In fact, Montana finished among the worst 20 states in every bad driving category to earn them the title of worst drivers in America.

COLORADO: Larimer 6th in state for distracted driving crashes

Colorado ranked from second worst to 33rd worst among the categories used to rank the worst driving states. Here is a look at our rankings:

Failure to obey (traffic signals, seat belt usage, invalid driver licenses): 2nd worst in the country

Drunk driving: 21

Speeding: 26

Fatalities per 100 million miles: 29

Careless driving: 33

Colorado had a score of 111 by adding those categories.

While Montana ranked worst in fatalities per miles driven, North Dakota ranked worst in drunk driving, Louisiana worst in failure to obey, New Hampshire worst in speeding and Florida worst in careless driving.

The District of Columbia was best in fatalities per miles driven. And while North Dakota drivers were drunk a lot, they also were the best drivers when it came to careless driving. While Florida drivers were worst in careless driving, they were best when it came to speeding. Utah ranked best when it comes to drunk drivers. The state is highly Mormon, a religion that condemns drinking. Maryland was best for obeying traffic signals.

CRASH DEATHS: 2016 fatal accidents on Larimer County roads

Best/worst driving states

Here is a look at the best and worst states and their scores, according to the rankings:

Best

Minnesota: 225 Ohio: 196 Vermont: 192 Iowa: 190 Nebraska: 186 Virginia: 183 New Jersey: 180 Washington: 176 Utah: 171 Michigan: 165

Worst

Montana: 48 New Mexico: 60 South Carolina: 60 Texas: 62 Louisiana: 63 Arizona: 84 Hawaii: 89 North Dakota: 89 Delaware: 93 Mississippi: 97

To see the entire report, visit http://www.carinsurancecomparison.com