NewsCovering Colorado

Actions

A speeding ticket could save your life; record deadly crashes in state since 1981

Colorado State Department of Transportation says about two people were killed every day in crashes last year
Posted at 10:03 PM, Jan 17, 2023
and last updated 2023-01-18 00:03:26-05

COLORADO SPRINGS — Colorado Springs Police Department reported 54 crashes, which killed 56 people in 2022. That's about one deadly crash in the community every week.

There were 745 deadly crashes in the state according to the Colorado State Department of Transportation (CDOT).

"It's just so sad to see the number of people that are dying on our roads," said the CDOT safety communication manager, Sam Cole.

CDOT can put in guardrails, improve road designs and add speed bumps or strips, but it can only do so much.

"I doubt you're going to see speed limits reduced, but if we can just get people to drive the speed limit, we would save a lot of lives," said Cole.

Cole said El Paso County residents do a good job of wearing seat belts. It's the speed, impaired and distracted driving that caused a 50 percent increase in deadly crashes in the last five years.

"We're looking at about two people every single day dying on Colorado road," said Cole.

State Patrol District 2 of Southeast Colorado gave almost 14,000 speeding tickets in 2022. That's a 5.2 percent increase from 2021.

CDOT is launching speeding awareness and enforcement campaigns in the next few weeks.

State Patrol plan on having more troopers enforcing speed limits in 2023.
____

Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.