Some roads are not meant for people, says the Colorado State Patrol.
Roadways such as highways and freeways, which are designed for higher speeds of traffic, are not designed for pedestrian traffic.
In 2021, the Colorado State Patrol saw an increase in pedestrian-involved crashes along these roadways by 52.9% over 2020. Between 2019-2021, the Colorado State Patrol investigated 157 crashes involving a person in the roadway where they were not permitted, according to a news release from the Colorado State Patrol.
Seventy-five percent of the time, those crashes resulted in serious injury or death.
“Crossing a highway on foot or walking alongside a road that is not designed for pedestrians is extremely dangerous,” said Sergeant Troy Kessler with the Colorado State Patrol. “Seeing a person walking on a road not designed for pedestrians would be unexpected for a driver. If you find yourself in the unfortunate circumstance as a pedestrian on a highway, exercise extreme caution, keep alert and distraction-free to avoid a worst possible case scenario. If you’re the driver, expect everything, pay attention and put away the distraction to avoid hitting someone.”
Boulder County holds the fifth-largest record of pedestrian-involved crashes along high-speed roadways. The county has seen a total of seven crashes since 2019, four of which occurred in 2021.
Adams County leads the state with 18 total crashes since 2019, eight of which happened in 2021. Jefferson County also has 18 total crashes with seven in the last year, followed by El Paso County at 11 total and Arapahoe County at nine total.
The Colorado State Patrol also noted the top five roadways where these crashes tend to happen. I-25 has had 12 crashes since 2019 with six taking place in 2021. I-70 follows with nine crashes.
Colo. 287, which runs through Longmont and Broomfield, had four crashes last year with a total of eight since 2019.
Colo. 6 had a total of five and Colo. 50 and Colo. 285 tied with four crashes since 2019.
The Colorado State Patrol recognizes that there are times when a person may find no other choice than to walk along a busy roadway. Here are a few tips they suggest.
- If your vehicle breaks down, pull off the road as far as possible, turn on your hazard lights and call for help.
- If possible, park your car on the opposite side of a guardrail or on a hill.
- If you must leave your vehicle, exit on the non-traffic side of the car and move to the safest location.
- If you are unable to call for help and need to walk, find the nearest exit or safe location by walking facing traffic as close to the edge of the road as possible.
People walking along high-speed roadways are susceptible to getting a ticket with fines of around $15 plus a surcharge, according to Trooper Josh Lewis. However, if a pedestrian also disregards or fails to obey a traffic control device, the fines could increase to $100 or more.
“Fines aside, the importance of the message is: safety! Driver's do not typically expect pedestrians on major highways; while low-speed crashes involving pedestrians are dangerous, high speeds are clearly disastrous, and usually deadly,” Lewis said via email.
