Lol at being a safety issue and then morphing into a racial issue.
DENVER — Anyone who’s been involved in a traffic stop has likely been asked by the officer “Do you know why I pulled you over?” or some variation of that.
But under a new proposed bill in the Colorado legislature, peace officers would be prohibited from asking a driver or passenger if they know the reason for the traffic stop. The bill also requires the officer to inform the driver of why they were stopped.
It’s a simple, one page bill that’s less than 200 words. The American Automobile Association (AAA) is one of its supporters.
AAA said the legislation, HB25-1243, is fundamentally a bill about safety.
“Our perspective on this is that the roadside is the most dangerous place for motorists and for law enforcement. Every minute you're at the roadside, you're at risk because of drivers whipping by at highway speeds,” said Skyler McKinley, regional director of public affairs for AAA. “This is going to minimize the amount of time you spend in that dangerous situation at the roadside by streamlining that whole transaction between the law enforcement officer and the individual.”
Despite Colorado’s 2023 Move Over Law, McKinley said drivers often don’t obey it and often come close to hitting cars and officers on the side of the road.
And Colorado’s extreme weather can make those risks even greater. During a snowstorm three weeks ago, Colorado State Patrol said four troopers were hit over three days due to drivers going too fast for the conditions.
Data provided by the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) showed just how often officers stopped drivers on major arterial roads.
On I-25 from March 2024 to March 2025, CSPD conducted almost 2700 traffic stops. In the same time frame on Powers Blvd, the number was over 3100 stops.
Proponents like AAA say these roadside dangers and high number of stops are the reason the Traffic Stop Bill is so important, but it has other benefits too.
“Traffic stops are the most common interaction folks will have with law enforcement,” McKinley said. “It also means that that's when your constitutional rights are most at risk, when you're most likely to self-incriminate because it's frightening. Because you're at the roadside.”
Democratic Colorado State Senator Faith Winter co-sponsored the bill. She said it can also help reduce racial profiling by law enforcement against people of color.
“We know that Black folks, especially Black men, Latino folks, are more likely to be pulled over by law enforcement than people that look like me,” said Winter, a white woman. “And so being honest and transparent in that interaction, I think, will reduce harm to the people that are being pulled over. It will also reduce violent incidents between law enforcement and the people they're pulling over.”
Similar laws already exist in California, Connecticut, and Minnesota. All were passed within the past two years.
According to the Colorado Secretary of State Lobbyist web page, many groups have already issued opposition to HB25-1243, including the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council, the City of Colorado Springs, County Sheriffs of Colorado, and the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police.
In a statement, the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police said Colorado’s police leadership prioritizes transparency and “the communication of stop reasons mandated in HB25-1243 is already standard practice and is thoroughly documented through mandatory body-worn camera systems.”
The statement said the new mandate in the proposed bill “fails to account for the unpredictable nature of traffic encounters, which may compromise officer safety and investigative integrity while creating problematic procedural ambiguities.”
Other groups are “monitoring” the bill while the City of Aurora’s listed stance is “amending” the legislation.
Multiple criminal defense attorneys in Colorado Springs were contacted for comment on this report, but none responded.
HB25-1243 is scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee this Wednesday, March 12.
www.koaa.com
DENVER — Anyone who’s been involved in a traffic stop has likely been asked by the officer “Do you know why I pulled you over?” or some variation of that.
But under a new proposed bill in the Colorado legislature, peace officers would be prohibited from asking a driver or passenger if they know the reason for the traffic stop. The bill also requires the officer to inform the driver of why they were stopped.
It’s a simple, one page bill that’s less than 200 words. The American Automobile Association (AAA) is one of its supporters.
AAA said the legislation, HB25-1243, is fundamentally a bill about safety.
“Our perspective on this is that the roadside is the most dangerous place for motorists and for law enforcement. Every minute you're at the roadside, you're at risk because of drivers whipping by at highway speeds,” said Skyler McKinley, regional director of public affairs for AAA. “This is going to minimize the amount of time you spend in that dangerous situation at the roadside by streamlining that whole transaction between the law enforcement officer and the individual.”
Despite Colorado’s 2023 Move Over Law, McKinley said drivers often don’t obey it and often come close to hitting cars and officers on the side of the road.
And Colorado’s extreme weather can make those risks even greater. During a snowstorm three weeks ago, Colorado State Patrol said four troopers were hit over three days due to drivers going too fast for the conditions.
Data provided by the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) showed just how often officers stopped drivers on major arterial roads.
On I-25 from March 2024 to March 2025, CSPD conducted almost 2700 traffic stops. In the same time frame on Powers Blvd, the number was over 3100 stops.
Proponents like AAA say these roadside dangers and high number of stops are the reason the Traffic Stop Bill is so important, but it has other benefits too.
“Traffic stops are the most common interaction folks will have with law enforcement,” McKinley said. “It also means that that's when your constitutional rights are most at risk, when you're most likely to self-incriminate because it's frightening. Because you're at the roadside.”
Democratic Colorado State Senator Faith Winter co-sponsored the bill. She said it can also help reduce racial profiling by law enforcement against people of color.
“We know that Black folks, especially Black men, Latino folks, are more likely to be pulled over by law enforcement than people that look like me,” said Winter, a white woman. “And so being honest and transparent in that interaction, I think, will reduce harm to the people that are being pulled over. It will also reduce violent incidents between law enforcement and the people they're pulling over.”
Similar laws already exist in California, Connecticut, and Minnesota. All were passed within the past two years.
According to the Colorado Secretary of State Lobbyist web page, many groups have already issued opposition to HB25-1243, including the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council, the City of Colorado Springs, County Sheriffs of Colorado, and the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police.
In a statement, the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police said Colorado’s police leadership prioritizes transparency and “the communication of stop reasons mandated in HB25-1243 is already standard practice and is thoroughly documented through mandatory body-worn camera systems.”
The statement said the new mandate in the proposed bill “fails to account for the unpredictable nature of traffic encounters, which may compromise officer safety and investigative integrity while creating problematic procedural ambiguities.”
Other groups are “monitoring” the bill while the City of Aurora’s listed stance is “amending” the legislation.
Multiple criminal defense attorneys in Colorado Springs were contacted for comment on this report, but none responded.
HB25-1243 is scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee this Wednesday, March 12.
Colorado bill would prohibit officers from asking, 'Do you know why I pulled you over?'
A new bill in the Colorado Legislature would prevent peace officers from asking you "Do You Know Why I pulled You Over?" during a traffic stop.
www.koaa.com
