Colorado officials put lead-footed truckers on notice
Officers in Colorado issued more excessive speeding citations to truckers in 2025 than at any time in the past five years.
According to the Colorado State Patrol, troopers issued 463 tickets for excessive speeding to commercial motor vehicle drivers last year, the highest number of such citations since 2021. For commercial vehicles, “excessive speeding” is considered driving at 15 miles per hour beyond the posted speed limit.
“An 80,000-lb semi-truck traveling at 65 mph needs over 525 feet, nearly two football fields, to stop under ideal conditions,” Col. Matthew C. Packard, chief of the Colorado State Patrol, said in a statement. “When a CMV driver chooses to exceed this speed limit, they are expanding their margin for error and posing a hazard to everyone else sharing the road with them.”
As for where those tickets were issued, officials said Interstate 70, Highway 160 and Highway 287 have consistently been the top three roadways for citations over the past five years. Summit County, the county seat of Breckenridge, Colo., was the county with the most citations in 2025, with 272 tickets issued.
Those citations can prove costly for truckers in Colorado.
Under state law, professional drivers who commit two serious traffic violations within three years are subject to a 60-day license suspension. A driver who has three serious violations over three years will have their license suspended for 120 days. Examples of serious violations include excessive speeding, improper lane changes, reckless driving or following too closely.
The warning to commercial drivers comes amid the aptly named “Stop Speeding” campaign launched by the Colorado Department of Public Safety.
During the campaign, the department said troopers are taking a “low-tolerance” approach to driving behaviors likely to lead to crashes, including lane violations and speeding.
“This campaign wants every Colorado driver to break the myth that speeding is a ‘victimless crime’ and encourages you to drive like a trooper is riding with you,” the department said in a statement. LL