Colorado's Traffic Death Rate Dropped in 2023...but Not by Much

Even though the number of deaths from car crashes on Colorado's roads decreased in 2023, the Colorado Department of Transportation still isn't satisfied.

"We have to really talk about fatalities and serious injuries. Those are the ones that have the biggest impact on communities, hospitals and society at large," says Sam Cole, spokesperson for CDOT. "We really focus on those crashes that are causing serious injuries and deaths. Every year, we see about 3,000 injuries and more than 700 deaths, and in our minds, even one is too many." 

So far this year, about 680 people have died in 2023 from traffic incidents, including 122 pedestrians, twenty bicyclists, 128 people on motorcycles or scooters, 112 vehicle passengers and nearly 300 drivers. While the number of deaths on Colorado's roads in 2023 is less than the 764 traffic fatalities in 2022, the decrease "needs to be taken with a grain of salt," Cole says.   

"It's way too high," he adds. "It's not good news that 700 people died and 1,000 were seriously injured, some with permanent injuries, but yes, we're glad to see these numbers level off in 2023."

The number of 2023 traffic fatalities will be finalized later in January, Cole says, as law enforcement agencies continue to update information. He expects the final total will be closer to 700, but still lower than last year.

More than 94,000 crashes were reported in 2023, down from 95,000 in 2022. The number of crashes in Colorado went from 99,000 in 2010 to 121,000 in 2019; when the pandemic hit, that total dropped to 87,000 in 2020. COVID didn't do much to slow traffic fatalities, though. In 2013, CDOT reported 482 deaths, and that number rose to a record high in 2022.

While 2023 did have fewer deaths, it also recorded the deadliest month ever: July saw ninety traffic deaths.

Master Trooper Gary Cutler, spokesperson for the Colorado State Patrol, says that traffic deaths are often fueled by a "false sense of security" in drivers who forget the risk of driving at high speeds.   

"People don't realize how dangerous these crashes can be and how deadly they are," Cutler says. "Our speeds seem to be getting higher and higher with the more vehicles we have, so what we end up having is fast crashes that not only devastate the vehicle and the passengers in them, but shut down our interstates for quite a while."

Colorado has drivers dying "almost daily in a vehicle crash," he adds. On December 27, for example, a driver going the wrong way on E-470 in Thorton crashed into a minivan with kids and a 27-year-old woman who wasn't wearing her seat belt. The wrong-way driver died, while the woman was sent to the hospital.

"The top causes of crashes year after year — it doesn't change — is driving too fast, people driving impaired," Cole notes. "They're distracted and not buckled up." Impaired driving accounts for a third of all traffic deaths, he adds.

"The State Patrol really has been trying to come up with a different way to patrol and get drunk drivers and impaired drivers off the road before they have those deadly crashes," Cole says.  For example, it launched the Meet the Effects awareness campaign to warn people about the danger of mixing weed and booze, then getting behind the wheel.

According to Cutler, most crashes in 2023 were preventable. "It just comes down to paying attention and realizing your responsibility," he says. "When the weather is not perfect, when we have bad roads or poor visibility, we need to slow down."

For example, a January 18 crash during a snowstorm involving nine semi-trucks and twelve passenger cars that shut down Interstate 70 near the Kansas border for three days but at least recorded no facilities. "It doesn't take a lot for these crashes to expand into where it's not just a simple cleanup," Cutler explains. "It's going to be days and days and days of cleanup."

Cole points to an alarming uptick in pedestrian deaths: 122 in 2023, compared to 115 in 2022 and just 52 a decade ago.

The number of bicyclist deaths is also up: from 15 in 2022 to 20 in 2023. The total was 22 in 2018, though.

The upside for 2023, Cole says, is that fewer motorcycle drivers died (and the number not wearing helmets decreased), fewer passengers died, and impaired driving decreased. All of this contributed to the number of traffic fatalities dropping.

"It's going to be a small decrease," Cole admits. "We're starting to make progress, I would say. But we've got a long way to go."