Colorado Move-Over Law: Moving and Stationary Vehicles

Statutory summary

1. Section 42-4-705(1) addresses an immediately approaching authorized emergency vehicle using qualifying audible or visual signals.
2. Section 42-4-705(2) addresses qualifying stationary vehicles displaying specified warning signals and states separate lane and safe-speed rules.
3. Sections 42-4-705(2.5) and (2.6) address certain maintenance, repair, construction, and roadside chain-installation situations.
4. Classifications and scheduled DMV points depend on the subsection and, for some subsection (2) allegations, the alleged result.

Approaching authorized emergency vehicles

Section 42-4-705(1) applies when an authorized emergency vehicle immediately approaches while using audible or visual signals that meet the referenced statutory requirements. The statute requires another driver to yield the right-of-way and, where possible, clear the farthest left-hand lane lawfully available to through traffic.

The statute then requires movement parallel to and as close as possible to the right-hand edge or curb, clear of an intersection, and a stop until the emergency vehicle has passed unless a police officer directs otherwise. These provisions differ from the stationary-roadside-vehicle rules in subsection (2).

Stationary vehicles displaying warning signals

Section 42-4-705(2) applies to a stationary authorized emergency vehicle, including a port-of-entry vehicle, displaying qualifying red, blue, or white lights; a stationary towing carrier vehicle displaying yellow lights; a stationary public-utility service vehicle displaying amber lights; and any stationary motor vehicle displaying hazard or warning lights.

On a highway with at least two adjacent lanes moving in the same direction on the same side of the highway, the statute requires due care and movement into a lane at least one moving lane apart from the stationary vehicle, unless authorized personnel direct otherwise. The category of any stationary motor vehicle displaying hazard or warning lights has been part of the statute since the 2023 expansion.

When the road lacks that lane configuration, or when the movement is not possible because of weather, road conditions, or immediately present vehicle or pedestrian traffic, the statute requires reduction and maintenance of a safe speed based on the roadside vehicle's location and surrounding conditions. Subsection (2)(c) conditionally presumes twenty-five miles per hour or less to be safe when the posted limit is below forty-five miles per hour, or twenty miles per hour below the posted limit when the limit is forty-five miles per hour or more, unless those speeds remain unsafe for the conditions.

Maintenance, construction, and chain-installation provisions

Section 42-4-705(2.5) separately addresses a maintenance, repair, or construction vehicle that is stationary or moving at less than twenty miles per hour. It applies the one-moving-lane separation rule when that movement is possible and a safe-speed rule when it is not possible.

Section 42-4-705(2.6) applies due-care and subsection (2) requirements when a driver approaches or passes a vehicle whose tires are being equipped with chains on the side of the highway. The vehicle receiving chains must display hazard or warning lights.

Classifications and scheduled DMV points

A subsection (1) violation involving an approaching authorized emergency vehicle is a class A traffic infraction. The current Colorado point schedule lists four points for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.

Except for the result-specific subsection (2) outcomes described below, a violation of subsection (2), (2.5), or (2.6) constitutes careless driving as described in section 42-4-1402. Careless driving without a result enhancement is a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense. A subsection (2) violation that proximately causes bodily injury is a class 1 misdemeanor traffic offense, and a subsection (2) violation that proximately causes death is a class 6 felony. A subsection (2.5) or (2.6) violation proceeds through section 42-4-1402, under which careless driving that proximately causes bodily injury, serious bodily injury, or death is a class 1 misdemeanor traffic offense.

For failure to exercise due care when approaching a stationary vehicle under subsection (2), the current point schedule lists three points for the ordinary violation, six points when the conduct proximately causes bodily injury, and eight points when it proximately causes death. These are schedule values. This page does not assign a separate numeric point value to a subsection (2.5) or (2.6) disposition.