Vail issues new tickets, $4,150 in total, to truck driver who blocked I-70 while not chained up
Courtesy photo
Vail Police have a small corridor to issue the new fines the Town Council has created for trucks without chains, yet someone has already received $4,150 in penalties — the maximum allowable — for blocking the interstate in a chain-up zone.
The chain-up zone in Vail begins about halfway through the mile marker 178 portion of Interstate 70 for trucks headed eastbound. For westbound vehicles, the chain-down zone begins roughly at mile marker 179.
But the town’s boundaries end at mile marker 182, creating a zone of just over 3 miles for Vail Police looking to enforce the town’s newly enacted laws citing drivers who are caught not wearing chains in a chain-up zone ($1,500) during a chain-up event, and drivers who block the roadway while not wearing chains in a chain-up zone ($2,650) during a chain-up event.
Nevertheless, during a snowstorm on April 1, in which the chain-up law was in effect, a truck driver who was headed eastbound on I-70 passed the chain-up zone at mile marker 178, did not put on chains, and then slid into another vehicle at mile marker 182, blocking the roadway, said Police Chief Ryan Kenney.
That allowed the Vail Police Department to issue two citations for a total of $4,150 in fines, Kenney said.
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It was the first instance of the new tickets being written since the new laws went into effect on March 18.
The Town Council unanimously passed an emergency resolution creating the new penalties after what has been a particularly bad season for I-70 closures in the Vail area.
The town started its campaign for stiffer penalties by reaching out to Gov. Jared Polis with a letter in February, stating that commercial vehicle drivers’ failure to comply with safety laws has put the town’s emergency responders in harm’s way in adverse conditions and “also impacts our ability to respond to emergencies in the town of Vail.”
But the town, after issuing that letter on Feb. 4, has been “underwhelmed by the response we got,” Vail Mayor Travis Coggin said at a council meeting a month later, prompting the town to enact the emergency ordinance to increase penalties.
A few hours after the resolution was passed, a tractor-trailer spun out on I-70 not far from the council chambers, but that driver was not issued the new penalties as the driver had not yet reached the chain-up zone at mile marker 178.
The new penalties allow the town of Vail to generate revenue from the drivers in violation, rather than drivers receiving a fine from the state of Colorado.
Vail Police Department Operations Manager Chris Botkins said the fines Vail can issue are significantly higher than the fines currently being issued by the state.
“Essentially, this would be taking the place (of the state fine),” Botkins said.
