Two Colorado Vehicle Safety Laws in 2025 Everyone Should Know

Starting January 1, 2025, two new Colorado safety laws will go into effect. One relates to cellphone use while driving, and the other about children’s car seat requirements, and both are important enough that everyone in Colorado should know about them.

Colorado’s New Hands-Free Cellphone Law

The first new Colorado safety law that begins in 2025 bans cellphone/smartphone use while driving unless the driver is using some form of hands-free technology. Previously, Colorado law only banned texting while driving, but that law did not take into account all the many other ways that cellphone use can distract a driver. This legal update makes it illegal to hold and use a cellphone while driving for any reason, including making calls, adjusting a GPS app, changing music selections, etc. (Using a cellphone while driving for emergency purposes is exempted, like calling 911 after witnessing a serious car accident.)

Legal Implications of Colorado’s 2025 Hands-Free Cellphone Law

If a driver is pulled over for using a cellphone while driving once the law is in effect, they can be penalized with:

• $75 fine
• 2 points deducted from their driver’s license

(The penalties above describe first-time citations and will escalate for subsequent offenses.)

Other than fines and driver’s license penalties implemented by the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the new hands-free cellphone law has significant implications for car accident cases, too. Before, if a driver was accused of using their cellphone while driving, they would have some room to maneuver their defense by arguing that it isn’t illegal to use a cellphone behind the wheel as long as they had not been texting. With the new law in 2025, though, it might be simpler for an injured plaintiff and their attorney to pin liability on the other driver if that driver admitted to using their cellphone for any reason at the time of the crash.

New Children’s Car Seat Law in Colorado

Starting January 1, 2025, stricter requirements for children’s car seats will go into effect across Colorado through House Bill 24-1055. The main update is that children under age 2 who are less than 40 pounds must be placed in a rear-facing car seat.

A summary of all important updates in HB 24-1055 about child car seat requirements includes:

• Increases the age at which children are required to use a child restraint system from under 8 years of age to under 9 years of age;
• Increases the age, from under 1 year of age to under 2 years of age, and the weight, from under 20 pounds to under 40 pounds, of children who must be restrained in a rear-facing child restraint system in a rear seat of the vehicle;
• Requires that children who are under 2 years of age but over 40 pounds in weight be restrained in a rear-facing or forward-facing restraint system;
• Increases the age, from 1 year of age or older to 2 years of age or older but less than 4 years of age, of children who must be restrained in a rear-facing or forward-facing child restraint system, depending on the child’s weight, in a rear seat of the vehicle if a rear seat is available;
• Adds a requirement that children who are at least 4 years of age but under 9 years of age and who weigh at least 40 pounds use a child restraint system or booster seat, which must be situated in a rear seat of the vehicle if a rear seat is available; and,
• Increases the age at which children must be retrained in a safety belt or child restraint system from under 16 years of age to under 18 years of age.

Lastly, the bill requires drivers to ensure that anyone 18 or younger in the vehicle is wearing a seatbelt while the vehicle is in operation.