Colorado’s crackdown on tractor-trailer trucks sliding out and blocking slick mountain highways has kicked into gear – the second season under a new state law — and State Patrol Troopers have ticketed at least 143 chain law violators.
“This is to ensure they are carrying those chains. Once winter driving comes up, we’re trying to make sure roads stay open and traffic can move freely,” Colorado State Patrol spokesman Gabe Moltrer said Monday. If trucks slide out, “they are going to be stopping traffic.”
State law requires all commercial trucks to carry chains from September through May to provide the extra traction when necessary. Passenger vehicles, too, are required to carry appropriate winter traction equipment, including snow tires, all-season tires, or chains, depending on the type of vehicle.
Colorado legislators concerned about the economic costs of highway traffic back-ups toughened the state’s law in 2024 by expanding the number of highways beyond I-70 to cover six additional highways. Colorado Department of Transportation officials monitor weather information and decide when to require the use of chains, notifying drivers electronically via highway signs.
Truck-triggered jams on I-70 near Vail have become such a paralyzing problem that local authorities in March passed their own municipal law imposing penalties for truckers caught without chains. Vail police must work with state troopers to enforce the municipal law and haven’t started their enforcement this year, Police Chief Ryan Kenney said Monday.
Vail police find that roughly 80% of truck drivers carry chains, but fewer than half use them during storms, which causes jams that impede emergency vehicles, Kenney said.
“The trucking industry is incentivizing truckers to get to their destinations faster. So it is worth the risk for truckers to try to drive by the chain stations on top of Vail Pass,” he said. “We see a lot of truckers who have no idea how to put the chains on their tires.”
This year, state troopers are setting up at ports of entry where commercial vehicles are required to stop. They observed 159 trucks passing the ports without stopping. Overall, troopers have issued 302 citations – 143 for chain law violations and 159 for failing to stop at the ports, according to Colorado State Patrol records.
“We’re going to be doing more checks,” Moltrer said.
Under the state law, commercial vehicle violators can incur fines up to $500, increasing to $1,000 if a truck is stuck and blocking traffic. Under the Vail law, the penalty is higher — a $1,500 fine for truckers caught without chains and $2,650 if a truck is involved in an accident or blocking a road.
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