Your Thoughts On Colorado’s Expanded Chain Laws and New Left Lane Restrictions?

Mike

Well-Known Member
Starting August 7, 2024, Colorado has rolled out new regulations that will affect all of us truckers. The state has expanded its mandatory carry chain laws and added new left lane restrictions on key highways, which will be in effect from September 1 to May 31. Here’s a quick breakdown:

  • You’ll now need to carry four snow chains or adequate traction devices if driving on major routes like I-70, Colorado Hwy 9, Route 40, and others.
  • Left lane restrictions are in place on stretches of I-70, including Glenwood Canyon, Vail Pass, and Floyd Hill.
  • Speeding fines have also been doubled in designated areas like Glenwood Canyon.
With these changes, I’m curious how everyone is planning to stay compliant and avoid fines. Are you making adjustments to your routes, checking for chains more often, or doing something else to prepare?

What are your thoughts on the lane restrictions? Will they help with safety, or do you think they’ll create more bottlenecks?

Full List Of Amended Chain Laws and Left Lane Restrictions Here:
 
Just one more step in the Californication of Colorado.

Most of those left lane restrictions aren't new, the previous were a mix of trucks must use right lane and minimum left lane speeds. All of which were mostly ignored and not enforced. The only place you see any regular enforcement of truck restrictions is WB out of Eisenhower, and occasionally WB Vail and EB Georgetown.

I don't remember the last time I saw a truck pulled over dropping into Denver, which is posted 45 for trucks and rarely adhered to. I normally drop off Vail just below the 45mph Truck speed and constantly have trucks blowing by like I'm chained to a stump. That's every trip.
 
All the things listed above have been in place, and ya still got "drivers" doing 10-25mph over posted truck speed through Glenwood canyon, down the grades, ect. Some because "they've been driving for 30 years and there didn't ever used to be posted truck speed and it the others screwing it up" the others seem to be people who are working their tech support call center job while driving.

Personally I was born an air sick low lander in the flat lands of Nebraska. I have a great respect for the mountains and I'm the guy that knows if I'm going from Denver to Eagle loaded it's going to take me near 3 hours because I take it slow and easy, stay in the right line and obey the posted limits. I'm the guy others are cussing out but you know what. I can drive those mountains a million times too slow, but I can only go too fast once.

Also I carry chains year round due to muddy job sites so the chain thing doesn't bother me either.
 
They picked on me on the radio the first time I ran over the Rockies. And old guy once told me, 'you go down a little slower than you went up and you'll be fine'.

Coming back east out of Denver on I-70, some cowboy was really whooping it up with other drivers. Called me out as a flatlander with the Florida plates. We rolled by him in the runaway ramp and my wife waved to him out the window while I asked him how he was going to get his load to the customer when he was buried to the frame. He was cussing until we ran out of coax.

I made it back to N.C., dropped my load, reloaded and made it back to Miami without burning any brakes or heat checking the drums. I wonder how long dude sat before he was dragged out and paid the costs to repair the ramp.
 
All the things listed above have been in place, and ya still got "drivers" doing 10-25mph over posted truck speed through Glenwood canyon, down the grades, ect. Some because "they've been driving for 30 years and there didn't ever used to be posted truck speed and it the others screwing it up" the others seem to be people who are working their tech support call center job while driving.

Personally I was born an air sick low lander in the flat lands of Nebraska. I have a great respect for the mountains and I'm the guy that knows if I'm going from Denver to Eagle loaded it's going to take me near 3 hours because I take it slow and easy, stay in the right line and obey the posted limits. I'm the guy others are cussing out but you know what. I can drive those mountains a million times too slow, but I can only go too fast once.

Also I carry chains year round due to muddy job sites so the chain thing doesn't bother me either.
I'm up there at least once a week, the stupidity is amazing. A couple months ago I was coming all Vail with a fat load and a tailwind, so I had to come down a gear lower than normal. I get passed by an empty System truck headed over to get his drywall, and he lights up the radio with this gem: "Carhauler, truck speed limit is 45 not 35." As in the truck speed limit determines the safe speed to go down the mountain and not the capabilities of the truck! WTAF???

The training system in trucking is broken. I'm so sick of these guys who are trained by freaking idiots who have no business teaching somebody how to take out the trash much less drive a damn truck in the mountains! If the feds want to make Trucking safer, that's where to start. But we all know the ATA will be 1,000% against that, because that will cost them money.
 
A miles long back up because one jack ass was in a hurry to go nowhere. Physics just doesn't register with some people.
I came up with an easy way to teach high school drivers ed students about momentum.

Get two shopping carts and several cases of bottled water. Put all the water in one cart and leave the other one empty. Have each student push each cart in the hallway (during class when they're empty) at a jogging pace and when they cross a piece of tape or something on the floor, they have to stop as quickly as they can.

They do this while the teacher is explaining why heavy trucks need more braking distance. Perhaps cover the loaded cart with poster board and let one of the kids draw a semi truck on it, and do the same with the empty cart but have them draw a small car.

It's easy, safe because the ballast is just water bottles, and probably not hard for a high school to mooch a couple of carts from their local Walmart. And the kids are already familiar with shopping carts and probably already know the heavy cart is harder to push and steer. All they'd need is a teacher to make them realize the physics are the same as with moving vehicles on the road.
 
A miles long back up because one jack ass was in a hurry to go nowhere. Physics just doesn't register with some people.
Had a FedEx do some stupid moves behind me to get around while I climbed 70 yesterday so he could keep hauling ass.

He gained some distance on me for sure but about 12 minutes later I was passing him as he got off his exit.
 
Could you just imagine if they all drove tankers?
I like people that say they would be scared to death to pull fuel of chemicals. GOOD! YOU won;t be out there. I want someone confident in their abilities controlling that truck.
 
Could you just imagine if they all drove tankers?
I like people that say they would be scared to death to pull fuel of chemicals. GOOD! YOU won;t be out there. I want someone confident in their abilities controlling that truck.
I dunno I'd rather have people who are scared but do it anyway. Like soldiers.

Because I'm sure all those wiggle wagons flipped over in the median had confident drivers too.
 
If you don't have respect for it, it will turn bad on you. Don't matter if it's flat, van, reefer, tank, bull wagon or a damned go kart.

Don't drive it like you stole it, drive it like it's the only thing you've ever had or are ever gonna have.

I almost went to doing tank. But I'm looking to get out of driving in a couple years and don't feel it worth the investment to get tank and haz added to the license. My friend pulls tank and he ain't doing any better pay wise than me right now.
 
"Carhauler, truck speed limit is 45 not 35." As in the truck speed limit determines the safe speed to go down the mountain and not the capabilities of the truck! WTAF???

Not to offend any of the fine folks who may be here, but I have yet to met many System drivers that I thought had a lot of sense or make good decisions.

I agree the training is lacking and even though they have now made training "mandatory" all they did was make schools that get kick backs from the government for their 7 day crash course get more business.
 
Could you just imagine if they all drove tankers?
I like people that say they would be scared to death to pull fuel of chemicals. GOOD! YOU won;t be out there. I want someone confident in their abilities controlling that truck.
I'd have no problem driving a 40 ton molotov cocktail around while idiots toss cigarette butts on the road after cutting me off.

What could possibly go wrong? :headscratch2:
 
I'd have no problem driving a 40 ton molotov cocktail around while idiots toss cigarette butts on the road after cutting me off.

What could possibly go wrong? :headscratch2:
Not a lot really. That tank is sealed, top and bottom. There shouldn't be any liquids or vapors coming from it.

What used to get me is the stupid cops that would place flares in the road to corral traffic into another lane. That's an open flame. A tossed cigarette won't do diddly.
 
Not a lot really. That tank is sealed, top and bottom. There shouldn't be any liquids or vapors coming from it.

What used to get me is the stupid cops that would place flares in the road to corral traffic into another lane. That's an open flame. A tossed cigarette won't do diddly.
What about the guy going down the road towing a U-haul with his crossover SUV with the safety chains dragging on the ground making sparks?

Or the road trip my dad & I went on in the early 90's with his rusted out 1970's Datsun when we were sticking a magnesium rod down through the hole in the floorboard making more sparks than a pyrotechnics show and then noticed the very next time we stopped that it was leaking gas from a rust hole in the tank? 🙄😂
 
What about the guy going down the road towing a U-haul with his crossover SUV with the safety chains dragging on the ground making sparks?

Or the road trip my dad & I went on in the early 90's with his rusted out 1970's Datsun when we were sticking a magnesium rod down through the hole in the floorboard making more sparks than a pyrotechnics show and then noticed the very next time we stopped that it was leaking gas from a rust hole in the tank? 🙄😂

The bigger concern would be the fuel trucks at the truck stops unloading with their flashers going. Fuel vapors are present everywhere at that point, and any short in the wiring, or arcing anywhere in or around those lights could cause ignition. We were taught to not run the truck unless absolutely necessary with a flammable load and to never run any lights.

Yet, I see it happening at the truck stops all the time.
 
That's because some safety dude with a degree in stupidity made it a company policy. They now also require all sorts of lighting on the trailers during delivery. Flashers, parking lights, spot lights, etc... Yet the driver will be talking on his phone, playing the truck stereo and I've even seen them standing about 20' away smoking.

Another reason is people run into the truck while parked for the delivery. I can't even remember how many times that happened to me. Cones are useless, they run them over. A diesel delivery has no vapors to ignite and many gasoline deliveries require a vapor recovery hook up that as the fuel is unloaded, it creates a vacuum in the trailer that draws the in ground tank vapors back into the trailer where it is recovered at the loading facility and either filtered or burned off by a vapor burner. Many drivers won't hook that up because it's an extra 2 hoses and 2 fittings to drag around. EPA fines start at $10,000 per incident for non use in what is known as a containment area.

What's even crazier, is pumping 10LL AvGas that has a flashpoint basically that is ambient temperature. Look at that stuff wrong and it flashes.
 
What about the guy going down the road towing a U-haul with his crossover SUV with the safety chains dragging on the ground making sparks?

Or the road trip my dad & I went on in the early 90's with his rusted out 1970's Datsun when we were sticking a magnesium rod down through the hole in the floorboard making more sparks than a pyrotechnics show and then noticed the very next time we stopped that it was leaking gas from a rust hole in the tank? 🙄😂
Dude dragging chains won't do anything. Those sparks are out before they get past the trailer he's dragging.
 
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