Drivers in Colorado, it's time to start practicing how to hang up the phone while behind the wheel. A new traffic law poised to increase roadway safety is slated for enforcement starting January 1, 2025, it will ban the handling of mobile electronic devices while driving, mandating the exclusive use of hands-free accessories, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), as obtained by Douglas County.
Shoshana Lew, CDOT's executive director said, as per Douglas County, “This new legislation is a crucial step toward making Colorado’s roads safer for everyone,” adding that an increased focus on driving without digital distractions should significantly lower the spike in distracted driving incidents and the often catastrophic crashes that result. The impending law is consistent with strategies implemented across the nation to safeguard motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians alike.
The urgency for such legislation becomes evident considering CDOT's 2024 Driver Behavior Report showing staggeringly high percentages, where a 77% admittance rate of in-vehicular mobile device usage amongst Colorado drivers suggests a dangerous norm and 45% conceded that built-in hands-free car technology might deter their phone usage while driving; this is compounded by research indicating a two to sixfold increase in crash risk when driving distracted by a mobile device.
The impact of distracted driving is most starkly observed through the lens of unprotected road users, especially pedestrians, and bicyclists, whose fatality rates surged by 50% and 112.5% respectively between 2015 and 2023, the death counts climbing starkly outpacing the state's population growth, which saw less than an 8% rise over the same period. These statistics paint a grim picture, highlighting the human cost of a fleeting glance at a text, a quick scroll through an email, a compulsion that commandeers attention, throwing caution to the winds of routine and the monotony of the daily commute.
