Springs No. 3 on 'drunkest city' list
Colorado Springs is used to making best-of lists — for its clean air, its fit population and its generally being one of the best places to live in the nation.
As it turns out, maybe we’ve just had falsely inflated self-esteem from all the alcohol we’ve been consuming.
A new magazine survey ranks Colorado Springs the third “most dangerously drunk” city in the nation, behind Denver and Anchorage, Alaska.
“That is certainly not something we want to be proud of,” said Pam VanOverbeke, victim advocate for Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Colorado Springs. “We’d rather it be for the safest city.”
In the December issue of Men’s Health, the magazine analyzed death rates due to alcoholic liver disease, surveys from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on alcohol use, drunkendriving arrests, fatal alcohol-related crashes and the MADD report card of each state’s efforts to curb drunken driving.
Colorado Springs fared poorly, although not as badly as Denver, which was ranked the drunkest city in the U.S. A third Colorado city, Aurora, also made the list, at No. 19.
Texas also did not do well, with three cities in the top 10 — San Antonio, Austin and Lubbock.
MADD questioned the accuracy of the rankings. State Executive Director Emily Tompkins noted the state rankings were based on 2002 data.
“I think they were focusing on data that was a little old, that we wouldn’t use,” Tompkins said.
Tompkins was in Colorado Springs on Tuesday for the kickoff of MADD’s “Tie One On for Safety” campaign to curb drunken driving during the holidays.
She said Colorado has made a number of law changes in recent years to improve DUI enforcement. The state lowered the legal driving limit for bloodalcohol content to .08 in 2004.
Though DUI fatalities dropped 14 percent last year, Colorado still ranked 35th in the nation in eliminating drunken driving, according to the MADD report released Tuesday.
“We’re moving in the right direction, and things are improving,” Tompkins said. MADD wants Colorado to require ignition interlock systems, which force drivers to blow into a tube for a breath-alcohol test before a car will start, for all DUI offenders, even first-time offenders.
VanOverbeke said aggressive DUI enforcement by local authorities, including regular use of road checkpoints, could skew the numbers for Colorado Springs, as could the presence of thousands of soldiers. She said Fort Carson has taken strides to curb drunken driving.
It’s not the first time the magazine has singled out Colorado Springs, which it recently named the best city in the nation in which to own a dog.
While MADD questioned the “dangerously drunk” ranking, so did Sam Guadagnoli, a developer and owner of several local nightclubs, including downtown’s Rum Bay.
“I just don’t believe their numbers at all. I would love to talk to the people that came up with those numbers,” he said of the Men’s Health rankings.
He said many cities that ranked lower than Colorado Springs, including Austin and New Orleans, should have ranked much higher.
As for the one city outside Colorado that did rank higher?
“Everyone in Anchorage, Alaska, I know — I go there every once in a while — is drunk,” he said.
CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or scott.rappold@gazette.com
TOP-RANKING CITIES
The top 10 “most dangerously drunk” cities, according to Men’s Health magazine:
1. Denver
2. Anchorage, Alaska
3. Colorado Springs
4. Omaha, Neb.
5. Fargo, N.D.
6. San Antonio
7. Austin, Texas
8. Fresno, Calif.
9. Lubbock, Texas
10. Milwaukee
The top 10 “least dangerously drunk” cities:
1. Durham, N.C.
2. Miami
3. Buffalo, N.Y.
4. Jackson, Miss.
5. Yonkers, N.Y.
6. Salt Lake City
7. Little Rock, Ark.
8. New York
9. Richmond, Va.
10. Jersey City, N.J.
