Chapter 9 - § 9.9 • OUT-OF-STATE DRIVERS AND CONVICTIONS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 9.9 • OUT-OF-STATE DRIVERS AND CONVICTIONS

§ 9.9.1—Drivers Licensed in Other States

It is very common for drivers who are licensed in other states to be prosecuted for alcohol- and drug-related traffic offenses in Colorado. When this happens, their privilege to drive in Colorado is subject to precisely the same kinds of restraints as those of Colorado residents. See, e.g., C.R.S. § 42-2-126(5)(b)(II). The same is true of their accumulation of points. See Zucchini v. Dep't of Revenue, 640 P.2d 1143 (Colo. 1982).

Thus, if Jane Smith from California is charged with DUI during her ski vacation in Breckenridge and refuses to take the breath or blood test, her privilege to drive in Colorado will be revoked for one year. Colorado law authorizes the arresting officer to confiscate her California license, just as the officer would confiscate a Colorado license, in order to initiate the revocation proceeding. Ms. Smith is, of course, entitled to the same temporary permit and hearing as any Colorado resident would be.

Whether California will take similar action against her privilege to drive there is another matter. Despite the existence of an Interstate Driver's License Compact, there remains a great deal of variation among states as to how this situation is handled. See C.R.S. §§ 24-60-1101 through -1107. Certainly, all of the states that are signatories to the compact are authorized to impose license restraints of up to one year in the home state on the basis of action imposed by a foreign state's DMV. Id. Since different states have so many different ways of imposing driver's license restraints, however, it is often difficult to predict what the exact consequences will be to a driver in this situation. The smartest thing for a lawyer representing such a client to do is to contact a lawyer in the client's home state who is well versed in local driver's license law and inquire about the effect of a Colorado conviction or driver's license restraint.

Perhaps the most crucial thing to remember about out-of-state drivers who lose the privilege to drive in Colorado is that they must get reinstated in Colorado in order to clear their record on the interstate compact. See Zucchini, ...