Colorado § 42-4-1803 - Abandonment of motor vehicles - public property.

§ 42-4-1803. Abandonment of motor vehicles - public property.

(1) (a) No person shall abandon any motor vehicle upon public property. Any sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff, police officer, marshal, Colorado state patrol officer, or agent of the Colorado bureau of investigation who finds a motor vehicle that such officer has reasonable grounds to believe has been abandoned shall require such motor vehicle to be removed or cause the same to be removed and placed in storage in any impound lot designated or maintained by the law enforcement agency employing such officer.

(b) If an operator is used by the responsible law enforcement agency to tow or impound the motor vehicle pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (1), the operator shall be provided with written authorization to possess the motor vehicle on a document that includes, without limitation, the year, make, model, vehicle identification number, and storage location.

(2) Whenever any sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff, police officer, marshal, Colorado state patrol officer, agent of the Colorado bureau of investigation, or agency employee finds a motor vehicle, vehicle, cargo, or debris, attended or unattended, standing upon any portion of a highway right-of-way in such a manner as to constitute an obstruction or impediment to traffic or proper highway maintenance or operations, such officer or agency employee is authorized to cause the motor vehicle, vehicle, cargo, or debris to be moved to eliminate any such obstruction or impediment; and neither the officer, the agency employee, nor anyone acting under the direction of such officer or employee is liable for any damage to such motor vehicle, vehicle, cargo, or debris occasioned by such removal. The removal process is intended to clear the obstruction or impediment, but such activity should create as little damage as possible to the vehicle, or cargo, or both. An agency employee shall not cause any motor vehicle to be moved unless such employee has obtained approval from a local law enforcement agency of a municipality, county, or city and county, the Colorado bureau of investigation, or the Colorado state patrol.

(3) The operator shall be responsible for removing the motor vehicle and the motor vehicle debris from the site pursuant to this section, but shall not be required to remove or clean up any hazardous or commercial cargo the motor vehicle carried. The commercial carrier shall be responsible for removal or clean-up of the hazardous or commercial cargo.

Source: L. 2002: Entire part amended with relocations, p. 470, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2009: (1) amended and (3) added, (HB 09-1279), ch. 170, p. 763, § 2, effective August 5. L. 2026: (2) amended, (HB 26-1237), ch. 117, p. 462, § 3, effective August 12.

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. Since § 42-4-1803 is similar to § 42-4-1803 as it existed prior to the 2002 amendment to part 18 of article 4 of title 42, which resulted in the relocation of provisions, relevant cases decided under former provisions similar to that section have been included in the annotations to this section.

These sections prevail over general abandonment provision in § 38-20-116. The removal and storage of abandoned vehicles is specifically provided for in former §§ 42-4-1101 to 42-4-1109 and these special sections will prevail over the more general abandonment provision in § 38-20-116. Calabrese v. Hall, 42 Colo. App. 347, 593 P.2d 1387 (1979).

Negligence in case involving violation of this section. A driver who stops his truck entirely on the highway pavement for emergency repairs when there is ample room on the shoulder outside of the traveled lane for his vehicle — no good reason appearing why he could not have safely driven out on the shoulder — is guilty of negligence in case another car collides with his truck while it is standing in the parked position. Calnon v. Sorel, 108 Colo. 467, 119 P.2d 615 (1941).

Evidence showing violation. Alden v. Watson, 106 Colo. 103, 102 P.2d 479 (1940).

This section prohibits a party parking, stopping or leaving standing any vehicle upon the main traveled part of the highway, when it is practical to stop, park or leave the vehicle off such part of the highway. Anderson v. Munoz, 159 Colo. 229, 411 P.2d 4 (1966).

Policeman's act under section nondiscretionary. A police officer ordering the impoundment of what appears to be an abandoned vehicle under this section is performing a nondiscretionary act. Cooper v. Hollis, 42 Colo. App. 505, 600 P.2d 109 (1979).

Applied in Healy v. Hewitt, 101 Colo. 92, 71 P.2d 63 (1937); Ackley v. Watson Bros. Transp. Co., 123 F. Supp. 649 (D. Colo. 1954); Calabrese v. Hall, 42 Colo. App. 347, 593 P.2d 1387 (1979); Martinez v. Steinbaum, 623 P.2d 49 (Colo. 1981).