Winter Driving in Colorado – No Black Ice Defense (Video)

How to Drive Safely in Colorado in the Winter

Scott O’Sullivan is a Denver injury attorney with some advice for how to safely drive in icy and snowy conditions.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Hey guys – Scott O’Sullivan here on day two of back-to-back snowstorms in late October here just before Halloween. So I just want to talk quick about the type of storms we’re having and winter driving.

I just read an article the other day: apparently Denver is ranked among the sixth worst out of all the cities in America for driving, and apparently it’s multi-generational problems across the board. In light of that with this kind of snow, I just want to have a quick talk about some of the best driving practices you can do in the snow.

If possible on really bad days, and today isn’t terrible, but on really bad days it’s better just to stay off the roads if you can or maybe carpool together. Just take a little less people on the road, make things a little safer. But in general try to stay multiple car lengths behind the car in front of you so they have plenty of room to avoid colliding with the rear of the car in front of you if something
happens, and that just makes a lot of sense.

One of the things too that I see all the time and I hear all the time – these people just blow through stop signs because they just didn’t slow down enough before the intersection.They’re like “oh it wasn’t my fault it was black ice or snowy.” Well I’m sorry, I mean it is totally your fault if you go through that stop sign. You have to drive according to conditions; there is also no black ice defense in the state of Colorado. Meaning you can’t say “oh it was icy out and I just didn’t know and it wasn’t really my fault.” That’s just not a defense in Colorado. So just leave enough room, sort of tap the brakes, don’t throw the gas on real hard while you’re coming through turns just kind of take it easy.

Also check the CDOT laws. There’s now laws regarding how beefy your tires have to be and chain laws and things like that in effect in Colorado, and you will be fined if you cause an accident and you don’t have the proper tires on.

The last thing I want to talk about really quick is, and today’s a good example, my sons go to two different high schools and they both cancelled school this morning, and I deeply appreciate it, so they had a snow day and they’re psyched. But also just for teens out there take your time driving, really give yourself that distance. And if you do, God forbid, get in an accident with a teen, they’re
scared, this is new to them. Give them a little bit of a break. It’s still their fault, I’m not saying it’s not their fault, but just try to be kind. It’s a terrible situation for everybody in these kind of conditions and we just all want to be safe.

Try to take care of each other as best you can.

Questions, comments, concerns? Contact us today.