Colorado State Patrol urges teen drivers to slow down
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - An alarming trend of pulling over Colorado teens for speeding is leading the Colorado State Patrol to send a stern message to the state's youngest drivers.
"Speeding may be the most commonly broken law that exists just about anywhere, because people don't think twice about it," said Trooper Josh Lewis with Colorado State Patrol.
Troopers say that in 2021 alone, 9,240 speeding citations were issued to drivers between 16 to 21, and looking across multiple years from 2019 to 2021, the most common citations issued to young drivers were for speeding.
“Speeding eventually catches up with you and often leads to irreversible consequences,” said Col. Matthew C. Packard, Chief of the Colorado State Patrol. “People in their teens and early 20s need to know that speeding isn’t a sign of who is ‘cool’ and it definitely doesn’t equate to a person being a better driver."
Even though a few miles an hour over the speed limit doesn’t seem like a big deal, every digit is less time to react in the event of a crash.
"Speeding traditionally has - and still is - one of the leading causal factors for fatal and injury crashes in Colorado, and that's what this campaign is about," said Trooper Lewis. "It's ultimately trying to stop it in our our younger, inexperienced drivers so they develop those good habits early, and don't continue bad habits later on in life.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), speed is a leading factor in 27 percent of the deadly crashes that involved drivers ages 15 to 18 years old.
MasterDrive in Colorado Springs says they always drive home the lesson to their students that speeding isn’t worth the risks.
"We have to remember that if we double our speed, we've quadrupled the energy, so a seemingly small increase in speed can give a not-so-insignificant increase in energy as well, which cuts down on reaction time," said Roger Lohmeyer, MasterDrive Training Coordinator. "It cuts down on the options that we have when the unexpected crisis presents."
Authorities urge parents to keep paying attention to their child's driving habits after they earn their license, and reinforce the importance of needing to drive the speed limit.
"One of the best things that parents can do, is lead by example," said Trooper Lewis. "If you say it's OK to go a few miles an hour over the speed limit, to go ahead and speed up past what the sign says, kids are going to remember that.”
Colorado State Patrol's new campaign - 'Don't Chase Cool' - will run from March until May 30, 2022. State Patrol says the messaging is geared toward drivers ages 16 to 21 along with their parents/guardians. They say the campaign’s point is to urge teens to slow down on the roadways because speeding isn’t cool.
