On Colorado highways, it’s now illegal
to obey the speed limit and illegal not to
theAspenbeat.com,
by
Glenn Beaton
Original Article
Posted By: Big Bopper,
4/10/2026 4:12:22 PM
In Colorado, the highest posted speed limit is 75 mph. I can live with that, even though I think 85 mph might be better and perhaps just as safe.
This speed limit of 75 means that it’s against the law to go faster than that. Trust me on this, I used to be a lawyer.
But now, Colorado has announced that if you go the 75-mph speed limit in the left lane, or even if you violate the speed limit by going 85 mph, and people stack up behind you who want to go 95, then you’re violating the law by impeding traffic. And you’ll be ticketed for it.
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
raspberry 4/10/2026 4:26:12 PM (No. 2091182)
I paid $130 in Colorado for a ticked I did not disserve. But in the long run, that ticket cost the state a lot more than $130.
Crazy Marxist state.
10 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
flygal 4/10/2026 4:51:35 PM (No. 2091190)
Sure hope the med helicopters and staff, as well as police and groud medics, are ready for overtime and lots of sleepless nights....
Former flight nurse; aged out
7 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
mc squared 4/10/2026 5:15:40 PM (No. 2091193)
Regardless of the sped limit, it is both illegal and dangerous to impede the traffic behind you in the 'passing lane'
"If proceeding slower than the prevailing traffic, a vehicle must stay in the right-hand lane or as close as practicable to the right, unless overtaking, preparing for a left turn, or similar..."
Florida Statute: § 316.081 Driving on Right Side
No speed limit mentioned. Violation should be the death penalty..
13 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Vaquero45 4/10/2026 5:36:22 PM (No. 2091196)
I like Glenn Beaton, but this time he’s full of it.
I drive I-25 between Colorado Springs and Denver every week. Yes, the speed limit is 75 mph, and I routinely drive faster than that. If I’m in the left lane going 80 mph and I see traffic coming up behind me going faster than that, I move over to the right lane and let them by. In Colorado, the law states that you should be in the right lane unless you’re passing. Most of the traffic jams, and a large number of the accidents, could be avoided by obeying this simple rule. I routinely pass people on the right, because they’re going slow in one of the left lanes and so is the car to the left of them. People in the wrong lanes cause crashes.
19 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
crashnburn 4/10/2026 5:44:36 PM (No. 2091197)
My pet peeve is tailgaters. No matter what speed you are going, even faster than the speed limit, sometimes they are so close I can't see their headlights. I do not feel safe with them that close. They won't have enough reaction time to safely stop is they are less than one car length behind for every 10 MPH.
The thing is, they aren't going to get where they are going any faster by tailgating instead of following at a safe distance. These are all on single lane roads.
11 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
PostAway 4/10/2026 5:51:43 PM (No. 2091198)
Perhaps it would be best if states and Congress returned to a model where holding office was no longer seen as a vanity project in which lawmakers get publicity for thinking up petty ways to subject citizens to their whims. Perhaps we ought yo get back to the founding vision of sending honorable people of talent and esteem to represent their fellows and make American life tolerable and just.
12 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
DVC 4/10/2026 6:06:45 PM (No. 2091201)
Fine with me.
Stay out of the left lane except for passing.
19 people like this.
Oh baloney. Just keep right unless passing.
I normally agree with this guy, but not here.
12 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
NYbob 4/10/2026 6:25:42 PM (No. 2091208)
People who have a clear opening to MOVE back to the right lane, and don't, should get a ticket. It is called driving, and you make the pass and then get out of the PASSING lane. You don't sit there and hold up traffic because you think it is smoother, or because you are some sort of self-appointed traffic cop. Unfortunately I have only witnessed one rolling road block get pulled over, and that was because they blocked an unmarked cop car. Should have noticed the spotlight, but that would have required using their mirrors.
11 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Geoman 4/10/2026 6:54:11 PM (No. 2091215)
Most normals do not drive in the left lane unless they are passing a slower vehicle, so there ought not be any outrage on that issue, especially since Colorado has plenty of other outrage-inducing state laws. Within the jurisdiction I first worked as a motorcycle cop in the early '80s, we had a main thoroughfare that had a posted minimum speed limit of 35. When I took the Assessment Center exam for an open Lieutenant position, there was a real-world question on the exam that noted a driver was going 30mph on a road with the top speed of 55. The driver wound up being arrested and the minimum speed limit violation, which most participants had never bothered to learn about, was cited as probable cause for stopping the vehicle and finding out the driver had warrants out for his arrest, as well as illegal contraband within plain view and much more illegal contraband stuffed into the trunk of the offender's vehicle. The vast majority of the assessment center participants, few having ever been street cops, agreed with the defendant's position that the traffic stop was not legal because they failed to acknowledge that the specific road upon which the arrest occurred had a lawful (in Texas) minimum speed posted. Plus, many failed to notice that the lawful "search incident to arrest" and vehicle impoundment, gave the arresting officer the legal right to search the entire vehicle, not just the area of the vehicle under the driver's immediate control, (e.g., the center console, ash tray and area under the driver's floor mat. All of the officers who failed the exam became democrats, as they were always looking out for progressive reasons to not arrest somebody. I had been the original arresting officer on the exam question but I kept that quiet until the results were posted.
5 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 4/10/2026 6:59:43 PM (No. 2091216)
Sounds like a leftist paradise.
2 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
snowoutlaw 4/10/2026 7:38:09 PM (No. 2091226)
When there's only 2 lanes the right lane can be all pot holes and such from the heavy trucks so if no one is around I might be in the left lane until I see others. When speeding, its always good when someone passes you because they will be the ones ticketed so I gladly pull to right and let them pass.
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Schnapps 4/10/2026 7:45:00 PM (No. 2091230)
Two solutions... in case you are pulled over...
1. Wear a turban while driving
2. Pretend not to understand english
4 people like this.
OK, I went and looked at the law. It states that drivers must keep right unless they are passing another vehicle or making a left turn (there are exceptions for when signs instruct drivers to keep left for other reasons...such as construction). That is a perfectly reasonable law. Many states have such laws.
7 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
edgar 4/10/2026 8:00:16 PM (No. 2091233)
In NC, we need to ticket those who drive in the left lane and don't even get close to the speed limit.
5 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
NHChemist 4/10/2026 9:27:56 PM (No. 2091250)
My Dad commuted to New Haven on the Merit Parkway in the 1950's. He complained when two state troopers would drive the speed limit side by side and back up traffic for miles.
3 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
mc squared 4/10/2026 9:44:25 PM (No. 2091257)
#14; I've seen that too. Dozens of cars driving side by side to avoid passing the cops is safer than free flowing traffic. One blown tire or dropped cigarette and a dozen cars are piled up. But the cops are right there at the front of the lines
1 person likes this.
According to AI 29 states require cars to move out of the left lane if they are impeding traffic even if they are adhering to the posted speed limit. Another 11 states reserve the left lane for passing slower vehicles. Alaska, Maryland, North Carolina and South Dakota do not require drivers to move out of the left lane if they are adhering to the speed limit.
1 person likes this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
MissMann 4/10/2026 11:57:00 PM (No. 2091282)
Don't be a road bolder. Get out of the way and let people go on their way.
4 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Venturer 4/11/2026 5:36:44 AM (No. 2091313)
It is my belief that people who hog the left lane do so because they do not like to follow other vehicle. They go slow in the left lane and there is never anyone in front of them.
0 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
homefry 4/11/2026 7:44:05 AM (No. 2091345)
All that reefer out there has people thinking crazy.
1 person likes this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Laotzu 4/11/2026 9:04:15 AM (No. 2091382)
Good luck regulating driving for a generation whose principle drivers' ed program was Mario Kart.
0 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
MickTurn 4/11/2026 12:05:38 PM (No. 2091481)
Impeding Traffic is the idiot going less than the speed limit in any lane! Colorado Cops need to get a Rectal Exam to assure that's not where their head is!
0 people like this.
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