2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 42 - VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC (§§ 42-1-101 — 42-21-106) › REGULATION OF VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC (§§ 42-4-101 — 42-4-2501) › Article 4 - REGULATION OF VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC (§§ 42-4-101 — 42-4-2501) › Part 2 - EQUIPMENT (§§ 42-4-201 — 42-4-242) › Section 42-4-230 - Emergency lighting equipment - who must carry

(1)
No motor vehicle carrying a truck license and weighing six thousand pounds or more and no passenger bus shall be operated over the highways of this state at any time without carrying in an accessible place inside or on the outside of the vehicle three bidirectional emergency reflective triangles of a type approved by the department, but the use of such equipment is not required in municipalities where there are street lights within not more than one hundred feet.
(2)
Whenever a motor vehicle referred to in subsection (1) of this section is stopped upon the traveled portion of a highway or the shoulder of a highway for any cause other than necessary traffic stops, the driver of the stopped motor vehicle shall immediately activate the vehicular hazard warning signal flashers and continue the flashing until the driver places the bidirectional emergency reflective triangles as directed in subsection (3) of this section.
(3)
Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, whenever a motor vehicle referred to in subsection (1) of this section is stopped upon the traveled portion of a highway or the shoulder of a highway for any cause other than necessary traffic stops, the driver shall, as soon as possible, but in any event within ten minutes, place the bidirectional emergency reflective triangles in the following manner:
(a)
One at the traffic side of the stopped vehicle, within ten feet of the front or rear of the vehicle;
(b)
One at a distance of approximately one hundred feet from the stopped vehicle in the center of the traffic lane or shoulder occupied by the vehicle and in the direction toward traffic approaching in that lane; and
(c)
One at a distance of approximately one hundred feet from the stopped vehicle in the opposite direction from those placed in accordance with paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection (3) in the center of the traffic lane or shoulder occupied by the vehicle; or
(d)
If the vehicle is stopped within five hundred feet of a curve, crest of a hill, or other obstruction to view, the driver shall place the emergency equipment required by this subsection (3) in the direction of the obstruction to view at a distance of one hundred feet to five hundred feet from the stopped vehicle so as to afford ample warning to other users of the highway; or
(e)
If the vehicle is stopped upon the traveled portion or the shoulder of a divided or one-way highway, the driver shall place the emergency equipment required by this subsection (3), one at a distance of two hundred feet and one at a distance of one hundred feet in a direction toward approaching traffic in the center of the lane or shoulder occupied by the vehicle, and one at the traffic side of the vehicle within ten feet of the rear of the vehicle.
(4)
No motor vehicle operating as a tow truck, as defined in section
40-10.1-101 (21)
, C.R.S., at the scene of an accident shall move or attempt to move any wrecked vehicle without first complying with those sections of the law concerning emergency lighting.
(5)
Any person who violates any provision of this section commits a class B traffic infraction.
Amended by 2013 Ch. 316, § 137, eff. 8/7/2013.
L. 94: Entire title amended with relocations, p. 2265, § 1, effective 1/1/1995. L. 2013: (4) amended, (HB 13-1300), ch. 316, p. 1709, § 137, effective August 7.
This section is similar to former § 42-4-227 as it existed prior to 1994.