It depends. Speeding (CRS 42-4-1101) less than 25 miles per hour over the speed limit is usually just a class A traffic infraction in Colorado, which carries no jail. Instead, you face penalties of:
- fines,
- surcharges, and
- Colorado DMV points on your driver’s license
However, speeding 25 miles per hour or more than the speed limit is traffic misdemeanor in Colorado. Depending on the location, penalties include not only fines and DMV points but also possible jail time.1
Refer to the table below for common Colorado speeding violations and their corresponding punishments.
| Colorado speeding violation | Penalties under 42‑4‑1701 (4)(a)(I)(L) C.R.S. and 42‑2‑127 (5)(f), C.R.S. |
| 1 to 4 mph over the reasonable and prudent speed, or more than the maximum lawful speed of 75 mph 42-4-1101(1) or (8)(b) C.R.S. | Class A traffic infraction:
|
| 5 to 9 mph over the reasonable and prudent speed, or more than the maximum lawful speed of 75 mph 42-4-1101(1) or (8)(b) C.R.S. | Class A traffic infraction:
|
| 10 to 19 mph over the reasonable and prudent speed, or more than the maximum lawful speed of 75 mph 42-4-1101(1) or (8)(b) C.R.S. | Class A traffic infraction:
|
| 20 to 24 mph over the reasonable and prudent speed, or more than the maximum lawful speed of 75 mph 42-4-1101(1) or (8)(b) C.R.S. | Class A traffic infraction:
|
| Driving at a speed that is not reasonable and prudent given road conditions 42-4-1101(1) or (8)(b) C.R.S. | Class A traffic infraction:
|
| Driving at such a slow speed that the normal and reasonable forward movement of traffic is impeded 42-4-1103(1) C.R.S. | Class A traffic infraction:
|
| Exceeding a safe speed on a bridge or elevated structure 42-4-1104(1) C.R.S. | Class A traffic infraction:
|
| 25 or more mph over the reasonable and prudent speed, or over the maximum lawful speed of 75 mph 42-4-1101(12)(b) C.R.S. | Class 2 traffic misdemeanor:
DMV points:
|
| 25 or more mph over the reasonable and prudent speed, or over the maximum lawful speed of 75 mph in a construction zone 42-4-1101(12)(b) C.R.S. | Class 1 traffic misdemeanor:
DMV points:
|
Note that penalties can be doubled if the speeding occurred in a maintenance, repair, or construction zone.2
Depending on the circumstances of the case, I may be able to get your traffic ticket reduced to a lesser crime or possibly dismissed. I may be able to find evidence helpful to you, such as:
- surveillance video showing that you were not speeding;
- eyewitness accounts that can attest to you driving at or below the speed limit; and/or
- the police’s radar gun calibration records, which may show that the radar gun was inaccurate
Additional reading
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- Salience and Timely Compliance: Evidence from Speeding Tickets – Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.
- Fines, nonpayment, and revenues: evidence from speeding tickets – The Journal of Law, Economics & Organization.
- Speeding, Punishment, and Recidivism: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design – The Journal of Law and Economics.
- Criminal Law—Conviction for Speeding Based Upon Speedometer Reading – Buffalo Law Review.
- Speeding in Reverse: An Anecdotal View of Why Victim Impact Testimony Should Not Be Driving Capital Prosecutions – Cornell Law Review.
Legal References
- CRS 42-4-1101.
- Same.
- See also Shafron v. Cooke (Colo.App. 2008) 190 P.3d 812; United States v. Boyer (D. Colo. 1996) 935 F. Supp. 1138.