Most of us see flashing lights on I-70 and think, traffic stop.
Routine.
Except it is not routine for the trooper standing inches from highway traffic in the dark, with cars and trucks blowing past at Colorado speeds, some drivers distracted, some impatient, and too many impaired.
Picture it.
Dark road. Flashing lights. A patrol cruiser positioned to protect the stop. A trooper trying to do the job. A stopped driver who should have moved safely out of the lane. And then another vehicle slams into the cruiser at a high rate of speed.
Denver7 reports that a Colorado State Patrol cruiser was struck just before 1 a.m. near Watkins during a traffic stop on I-70. The trooper was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and has since been released. Two people in the stopped vehicle, a 44-year-old woman and a teenage girl, were also taken to the hospital and are expected to recover.
The driver who hit the cruiser is suspected of driving under the influence and faces several charges, according to CSP.
Thank God this was not worse.
But it was bad enough.
A traffic stop is one of those things the rest of us barely notice unless it slows us down. For law enforcement, it can be one of the most dangerous parts of the job. They are dealing with unknown drivers, nighttime conditions, narrow shoulders, fast-moving traffic, and the terrible math of one bad decision behind the wheel.
And drunk driving is exactly that.
A bad decision. A selfish decision. A preventable decision.
We do not need to overcomplicate this with policy fog. Colorado roads are shared space, and shared space requires grown-up behavior. When someone drives impaired, they are not just “taking a chance.” They are making every other person on that road part of their gamble.
The family headed home. The worker on the night shift. The teenager in the passenger seat. The trooper trying to get home in one piece.
Every bad decision behind the wheel lands somewhere. On somebody’s family. Somebody’s coworkers. Somebody’s emergency room. Somebody’s front porch where the phone rings too late at night.
This time, the injuries were reportedly not life-threatening. That is a mercy.
It should also be a warning.
Slow down. Move over. Pay attention. When you see flashing lights, give space like someone’s life may depend on it, because it might.
And if you have been drinking, do not drive.
Call the ride. Hand over the keys. Stay put. Sleep on the couch. Walk away from the argument. Do anything except turn your bad judgment into somebody else’s emergency.
Colorado’s troopers, deputies, officers, firefighters, EMTs, and road crews work in places most of us only pass through.
They deserve our respect.
They also deserve enough common sense from the rest of us to make it home.
Source: Denver 7
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