Practice Area
Some traffic tickets are crimes, and almost all of them carry points. We work to keep the charge off your record and the license in your wallet.
Both of our founding partners started their careers as prosecutors. Before co-founding Smith & Weidinger, Bradley Smith served as a Deputy District Attorney in Mesa County and as a Denver Assistant City Attorney, where traffic and misdemeanor dockets move fast. We know how those cases get charged, how they get resolved, and which offers are worth taking.
We handle traffic cases from our offices in Denver (1040 S. Gaylord St.) and Colorado Springs (415 N. Tejon St.), and in county and municipal courts across the Front Range. We’ve had careless driving charges dismissed in Jefferson County, won a contested DMV hearing in Arapahoe County, and resolved DUI arrests as ordinary traffic offenses in Larimer, Montrose, Pueblo, and Weld counties. You’ll work directly with the lawyer handling your case, not a call center.
Colorado sorts traffic violations into three tiers, and the tier decides whether you’re facing a fine or a criminal record.
Most traffic convictions add points to your Colorado driving record. If you’re 21 or older, the Division of Motor Vehicles can suspend your license at 12 points in any 12 months or 18 points in any 24 months. Drivers under 21 have lower limits. Points are added when you’re convicted but dated to the day of the violation, and a 2026 law adds more for repeat speeders and for driving 100 mph or more.
Some convictions do the damage on their own. Leaving the scene of an accident, DUI, eluding police, and speeding 40 mph or more over the limit are 12 points each. Reckless driving and DWAI are 8, speeding 20 to 39 over is 6, and careless driving and failing to show proof of insurance are 4. That’s why the charge you plead to matters as much as the fine. Amending a ticket to a lower-point offense can be the difference between keeping your license and losing it.
Careless driving means driving without due regard for the road, traffic, and conditions (C.R.S. 42-4-1402). It’s the charge officers write most often after a crash, sometimes when they can’t tell who caused it. It’s a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense, and a class 1 if it caused bodily injury. A fatal crash can be charged far more seriously: since September 1, 2026, causing a death by criminally negligent driving is criminally negligent homicide, a class 5 felony. Reckless driving (C.R.S. 42-4-1401) requires more: a wanton or willful disregard for safety. The difference between inattention and conscious disregard is often the heart of the case.
Colorado also requires every driver in a crash to stop, exchange information, and help anyone who’s hurt. Leaving the scene is 12 points no matter what. If someone was injured, it’s a class 1 misdemeanor traffic offense. Serious bodily injury makes it a class 4 felony, and a death makes it a class 3 felony. Driving on a suspended license is usually an infraction, but if the suspension was alcohol-related, it’s a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense.
Colorado criminal defense
Paying a ticket is usually a guilty plea, and the points follow. Get a free, confidential consultation with a Colorado defense attorney first. Not a screener.
Your information stays private.
Not a call center.
We know both sides.
Your criminal defense attorney
Bradley E. Smith
Founding Partner
Criminal Defense Attorney
Former Deputy District Attorney in Mesa County and Denver Assistant City Attorney. More than six years as a U.S. Navy officer overseas, in Japan, East Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from CU Boulder. Licensed in Colorado state and federal courts.
That prosecutorial background matters here, too. Traffic dockets are crowded, and prosecutors resolve most cases quickly. A lawyer who has worked those dockets knows what earns a dismissal or a lower-point plea: a missing witness, a speed reading nobody can support, a crash report that doesn’t match the damage.
We work out what a conviction would actually cost you, in points, insurance, and work, before anyone talks about a plea.
Every traffic case comes down to a few questions:
Is the right statute charged, and can the officer support every element? Speed readings depend on calibrated equipment and a trained operator.
We check how close you are to a suspension before we negotiate, so a plea doesn't cost you your license.
In careless driving cases, we look at the scene, the damage, and the other driver. In Jefferson County, we got a careless-driving-with-injury charge dismissed by showing the other driver was at fault.
Prosecutors can amend a charge to a lower-point offense or a non-point infraction. Knowing what to ask for is half of it.
If the DMV is involved too, we plan the court case and the license case together.
We look at all of it. Then we decide, with you, whether to negotiate, file motions, or take the case to trial.
The order below is the shape of most Colorado criminal cases. Where your case sits in it determines what can still be changed.
You will be advised of the charges, usually within 48 hours. You do not have to explain yourself to anyone, and you should not. The single most common way a defensible case becomes a difficult one is a statement given before a lawyer was involved.
The court sets bond considering the charge, your record, your ties to the community, and any perceived risk. Bond can be argued, and bond can be reduced after it’s set. A lawyer at that hearing is the difference between a number and an argument.
In any domestic violence case, a mandatory protection order issues immediately. It can bar you from your own home and from contact with your family. It can be modified — but only through the court, never by agreement with the other party.
We obtain everything the state has: reports, body camera footage, dispatch audio, lab results, officer histories. We also build what the state didn’t bother to — witnesses they never interviewed, video they never pulled.
Suppression of an unlawful stop, an unlawful search, or an involuntary statement can end a case outright. Several of our dismissals came at or immediately after a motions hearing.
Most cases resolve. Some should not. We prepare every case as though it will be tried, because that preparation is what produces the better offer — and because when a case should go to a jury, we are ready.
Recent outcomes in traffic and driving cases.
We showed the prosecutor the other driver was at fault.
Careless driving charge dismissed.
Won a contested DMV hearing after our client refused a blood and breath test.
DUI charge dismissed; case resolved as a traffic infraction.
DUI charge dismissed at the motions hearing; resolved as speeding.
DUI charge dismissed; resolved as careless driving.
Results depend on the specific facts and legal circumstances of each case. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome.
Unedited, from our Google profile. Traffic cases are among the matters these clients hired us for.
Reviews are published on Google by the people who wrote them. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
These are the questions we hear most from people holding a Colorado ticket or summons. The answers below are general. Your charge, your driving record, and the court decide how they apply to you.
Not before you know what it will cost. Paying a ticket is usually a guilty plea, and the points go on your record. If the ticket is for a misdemeanor, or you’re close to a suspension, talk to a lawyer first.
Not for an infraction. For a misdemeanor traffic offense, yes: up to 90 days for a class 2 and up to a year for a class 1. Traffic felonies can mean prison.
Yes. Speeding 25 mph or more over the limit is a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense, and a class 1 in a designated maintenance, repair, or construction zone. It’s also 6 points, or 12 if you were 40 or more over, and repeat speeding now adds more.
Often. Prosecutors can amend a charge to a lower-point offense or a non-point infraction, especially when the evidence has problems or your record is clean. It isn’t automatic, and it’s easier with a lawyer.
The DMV counts points over rolling 12- and 24-month windows, by the date of each violation. Older points stop counting toward a suspension, but the convictions stay on your driving record.
Usually not. Colorado’s record-sealing law excludes traffic infractions and misdemeanor traffic offenses, including DUI and DWAI. A narrow exception lets some misdemeanors be sealed if the district attorney consents or a judge makes specific findings. For most people, what you’re convicted of stays on your record, which is why the result in court matters.
