The state of Colorado permits the use of radar detectors in vehicles, although there are some caveats to the law that you need to learn about.
Though the main purpose of radar detectors is to alert you to the presence of nearby police radars, some of them have advanced features that can track your speed and allow you to set off alerts if you’re going over a certain speed.
In this article, you’ll learn about the radar detector laws in Colorado, along with any other relevant restrictions that you need to know about.
Windshield Mounting
Many U.S. states don’t permit people to install any devices, including radar detectors, on your windshield. However, Colorado is not among them.
If you wish to mount radar detectors on your vehicle’s windshield, you can do so without a problem in Colorado. That said, don’t mount it right in front of you, or in a way that might cause an obstruction in your field of view.
You can also make use of other spots in your car that are less likely to block your field of vision, such as the dashboard.
Privately Owned vs Commercially Owned Vehicles
If you drive a privately owned vehicle, such as your own car, you can install a radar detector. For commercial vehicles, however, you will not be able to make this kind of installation, no matter how much your vehicle weighs and how big it is.
This restriction only applies to commercial vehicles that weigh more than 10,000lbs, but the law in Colorado specifically prohibits all commercial motor vehicles from installing such devices.
Driving in a Military Area
In all 50 U.S. states, it is prohibited for any kind of vehicle, whether private or commercial, to make use of a radar detector in a military region due to potential interferences with military radar systems.
If you need to drive across a military area, remove the detector, turn it off and store it elsewhere.
Radar Detector Myths
There are some misconceptions that cause people to mistrust radar detectors, such as the following:
- They distract the driver too much or end up resulting in them breaking traffic rules when no police radars are around. The truth is that if used correctly, radar detectors can be safe and useful.
- They help you avoid tickets at all costs. This is untrue since police radars can sometimes find you speeding before your radar detector has time to react.
- Radar detectors are illegal across the U.S. Again, this is false. These detectors are legal everywhere in the U.S., apart from Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Radar Detector vs Radar Jammer
Radar detectors are meant to spot police radars approaching your car without giving off signals of their own, while jammers (which are illegal in Colorado) give off radio signals at certain frequencies to confuse the police radars.
State of Colorado Info
Colorado, one of the country’s Mountain states, is also known as Boulder State, owing to the presence of the Southern Rockies, the Great Plains, and the Colorado Plateau.
It shares borders with Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming, and is popular for the abundance and variety of natural beauty it holds.
Population: 5,812,069
Capital: Denver
Area: 104,094 mi²
Registered vehicles: 1,807,777
Total lane miles: 185,486 mi
Number of highways: 5