Accident Alert Status, what it means for drivers and crash victims

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- As the winter storm drops powder onto the front range, many agencies go under Accident Alert Status.

That means that if you find yourself in a traffic accident, police will not respond if:

• No one was injured
• Impairment is not expected
• No public property was damaged.

Authorities ask that all parties involved exchange information and report the accident individually online.

The Pueblo Police Department, Colorado State Patrol, Colorado Springs Police Department, and the Fountain Police Department all have a variation of the policy.

Each agency has different policies, and different names for the status, but they are generally the same.

The overarching reason behind accident alert status is that the call volume during extreme weather exceeds the ability of officers to respond to all of them.

Out of the local departments, only Colorado State Patrol and Pueblo Police told KRDO that they would send emergency personnel if requested because of traffic conditions.

That can cause dangerous situations for people trapped on an interstate or in a place where it may be tough to find a safe place to stand away from their vehicle.

State Trooper Joshua Lewis acknowledges that the policy can make for some tougher decisions.

"You'll see it sometimes a little too often, more than we would like," Lewis said on having to go into crash status. "Just based on circumstances and a lot of calls for service."

Wednesday, drivers in Monument told KRDO they were mostly unaware of the policy that's been in place for years, but they understand it.

"Cops can't do everything for you, you've got to be a little bit proactive by yourself," Caleb Edwards said.

"That wouldn't bother me at all. It's dangerous. It's dangerous for them to be out here," driver Ron Vaplando said.

Pueblo Police spokesman Sgt. Frank Ortega echoed that same sentiment about officer safety, saying their mere presence can lead to other issues caused by rubberneckers and other drivers.

Lewis added they don't get many complaints about what they term "crash status" either.

"We do our best when somebody says, I want a trooper to respond to, respond to those incidents," said Lewis. "But it ultimately comes down to obviously in these conditions, it's going to take us a while to get to some of these locations."

For more information on Accident Alert, click here.