More people died on Colorado’s roads last year than in 2024, according to new data, which points to an uptick in impaired driving and rising deaths among cyclists and pedestrians.
Last year, 701 people were killed on Colorado roads, up from 689 in 2024. The slight increase ends a steady fall in traffic fatalities across the state that had continued since 2022 when Colorado recorded the largest number of road deaths in more than four decades.
Of the people killed last year, 392 were inside cars or trucks, 126 were pedestrians, 18 were riding a bike and 147 were on a motorcycle, preliminary data shows.
Impaired driving caused 234 people to be killed, marking an increase from 215 in 2024.
The data underscores the need to refocus safety efforts this year to avoid deaths that are preventable and brought by poor decisions, state transportation officials said during a news conference Friday.
“It is absolutely preventable and unacceptable and the only way that we can move this needle is if we all agree on those two points: Traffic deaths are absolutely preventable and they are tragic,” Col. Matthew Packard, Chief of the Colorado State Patrol said. “And none of us want to lose a friend, a family member, a co-worker, a neighbor, a brother, sister, sibling, cousin, anybody in this type of manner.”
The state plans to keep pushing for safety measures, including more automated speed enforcement cameras and building in infrastructure that protects vulnerable road users, like cyclists and pedestrians, officials said.
Among those killed were pedestrians crossing the street in unlit areas and against crosswalks and people on the side of the road changing a tire, Packard said. Districted driving remains a pressing problem and speed is a consistent factor in fatal crashes, he said.
About 30% to 35% of people killed in car crashes in Colorado are “at the hands of an impaired driver,” he added, calling the decision to drive while impaired “the most selfish act” that happens on the state’s roads.
“This is not a problem that we can point a single finger at,” Packard said. “This is a systemic issue that we all need to lean into and recognize that it is all of our responsibility to solve these problems.”
The warm weather also played a role in propelling this year’s fatalities, Shoshana Lew, CDOT director, said. By November, there was a 7% decline in traffic deaths compared with the same time in 2024, but with the unseasonably high temperatures, more people were on the roads.
“Traffic deaths hit near records in those last two months of the year,” Lew said. “Especially hard hit were motorcyclists where we saw a 167% increase in the number of fatalities.”
CDOT continues to promote the state’s “Move Over Law” which requires drivers to slow down or move over for cars that are on the side of the road.
Some of those measures led to a 70% drop in deaths in work zones, Lew said.
“We must redouble our efforts to drive down the total number of traffic crashes on our roads,” she said. “Every one of the 701 deaths last year represents a member of our community. Each one is a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a friend, somebody who didn’t make it home.”