Colorado State Patrol – Golden had a question for truck drivers that traveled along I-70: Where are your chains? Georgetown, Colorado is a small ski resort town west of Denver.
I-70 was closed to traffic as truckers who did not have their chains as required by law this time of year clogged up the interstate to the point it had to be shut down. As you might expect, the CSP is rather unhappy as that area has been plagued by truck rollovers happening nearly once a day.
#I70 westbound: Road closed due to a stalled vehicle between Empire Junction and CR 381. https://t.co/OE08qvtcIA
— Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) (@ColoradoDOT) February 23, 2023
The CDOT twitter has become a long list of CMV rollovers and road closures. – Twitter: @ColoradoDOT
If you follow the timeline on Colorado DOT’s Twitter page, you can literally hear the moans and groans of the poster as one by one, more wrecks and rollovers are stacked like cordwood on the account.
At 9:45 p.m., CSP had enough and closed the interstate and frontage roads down so emergency vehicles could work to untangle the mess. And the first thing they asked truckers was “Where are your chains?”
From Sept. 1 to May 31, every truck has to have the proper amount of chains on them to safely traverse the roadway. Here’s the guidebook page for the formula to find out how many chains you need.
You have to have four (4) chains, tire cables, auto chains, auto sanders, or tire socks (yes, they are legal in Colorado) with you at all times if you are in the state. To quote the CODT website: Penalty for non-compliance with winter driving restrictions: Up to a $500 fine plus a $79 surcharge or, if you are stuck and blocking any traveled portion of the roadway the fine is $1,000 plus a $157 surcharge.
Traffic Advisory
— CSP Golden (@csp_golden) February 23, 2023
I70 westbound traffic through @ClearCreekCoGov is heavy this morning. This is the byproduct of a rolled over CMV on Loveland Pass last night
Because of this, all placarded HazMat loads are guided through the Eisenhower / Johnson tunnels at the top of each hour pic.twitter.com/gDiNsSTvPm
CSP-Golden has their hands full with the daily rollovers on I-70. – Twitter: @csp_golden
As we know from other incidents regarding the Colorado truck incidents, we sometimes learn drivers are not taught proper winter and mountain driving habits. Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any questions about best practices for winter and mountain driving and I will do my best to answer them.
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