DENVER — Colorado State Patrol (CSP) and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) launched a new educational campaign, hoping to encourage drivers to take into consideration who they are putting at risk when they don't slow down or move over for vehicles on the side of the road.
"It is scary, I've had several close calls," Seth Dobson, a heavy wrecker operator with Mountain Recovery, said.
During the winter, you can find him and other crews in icy conditions, inches away from traffic on Interstate 70 clearing crashes.
Back in 2023, Colorado's Move Over law was changed to include emergency vehicles and tow trucks. Recently, it began to include all vehicles that are pulled off on the shoulder.
The new campaign is called "Put Yourself in My Shoes" to represent all the different types of people who may be on the side of the road at any given time.
"Our workforce is not abstract. They are mothers, they are fathers, they're siblings, their friends and neighbors. We have lost colleagues in the line of duty," CDOT Deputy Director of Operations Bob Fifer said.
Two CDOT employees were killed in crashes like these in 2024, and 64 total employees have been killed on the roads since 1929, according to Fifer.
In 2025, 10 Colorado State Patrol Troopers were hit by vehicles. Seven of those happened during inclement weather.
"I want you to imagine working on the side of the highway, whether we're helping somebody change a tire, towing a car, helping somebody in their time of need. When you're working on the side of the highway, you have cars flying by you at highway speed, sometimes within feet and sometimes within inches," Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Means with Colorado State Patrol said.
The law states that if a driver is in a 40 mph zone, they must slow to below 25 mph. If it's a zone higher than 40 mph, drivers need to reduce their speed by 20 mph below the posted speed limit.
"It's a dangerous job, and anything that the motoring public might be able to do to just kind of help us out," Dobson said.
