Photo credit: Mobilus in Mobili / flickr
I’ve been living in Denver for about 30 years, and I’ve never seen the traffic situation quite this chaotic. It feels like every time I leave my house, I’m bracing myself for the next person to blow through a red light, ignore a stop sign, or speed like it’s the Autobahn.
It’s frustrating, it’s anger-inducing, and most importantly, it’s dangerous. Traffic violations in this city seem to be on the rise, especially when it comes to running red lights and stop signs, and it’s getting harder and harder to feel safe on the roads.
One of the biggest factors, in my opinion, is the sudden population boom Denver’s experienced in the last decade or so. People are flooding in from all across the country—Texas, New Mexico, the East Coast, the West Coast—and everyone’s bringing their own driving style with them. It’s a culture clash on the roads.
Back when I moved here, there was a sort of unspoken code among drivers: maintain a few car lengths of distance, keep the horn quiet, and maybe push 10 over the limit if you were feeling bold. But now, we’ve got drivers who think “speed limits are for dorks,” others who believe in honking at the slightest inconvenience, and still more who seem to view stop signs or traffic lights as optional suggestions. The end result is chaos and confusion for everyone.
Now, let’s talk about the traffic lighting system. Honestly, it’s pretty rough in Denver. Sometimes you’ll sit at a red light for long enough to think something is wrong, watching tumbleweeds blow across the empty intersection, with no cross traffic in sight. It drives people crazy, and I get it—nobody wants to waste their day idling.
The problem is that the lights are so poorly timed in some parts of the city that folks decide to take matters into their own hands and gun it through yellow (or even red) just to avoid another long wait. The truth is, that’s no excuse for dangerous behavior. As frustrated as we all are, running a red light puts everyone at risk, and I’m tired of seeing it on a daily basis.
Pedestrians aren’t safe either. Walking downtown can be nerve-wracking, because some drivers believe that as long as they have a green light, they own the road—forgetting that the law clearly states they must yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk.
A few days ago, I watched a woman with a stroller nearly get clipped by someone making a left turn who was too busy checking for oncoming cars to notice people already walking. It’s as if we’ve forgotten that foot traffic has to be factored into our driving decisions. The city’s grown more walkable over the years, which is great, but our attitudes behind the wheel haven’t kept pace with that shift.
What really bothers me is that this all could be avoided with a little patience and consideration. We might complain about the newcomers, but let’s face it—Denver isn’t the city it used to be. When you bring together folks from so many different driving backgrounds, it’s bound to cause a bit of a free-for-all.
We can’t just blame them, though; it’s also our responsibility as longtime Denverites to adapt, stay alert, and do our part to maintain safety and civility. That means respecting speed limits (which aren’t just suggestions), stopping at red lights, and remembering pedestrians have the right-of-way too.
Change can be good, and I’m genuinely excited to see Denver evolve. But man, right now, it feels like the Wild West out there—a territory with no sheriff to keep the peace. Until things settle into a new “normal,” we need to keep our eyes open, our tempers in check, and our respect for the rules intact.
Because until we do, the roads are only going to get scarier, and that’s not the Denver I want to live in.
