New Study Finds Nearly 7,900 Traffic Violations In 30-Minute Windows

Findings by Bicycle Colorado and Obvio highlight widespread dangerous driving in Colorado and the need for automated enforcement

DENVER, Jan. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Bicycle Colorado, the state's leading organization championing the safety and interests of bicyclists, and Obvio.AI, a technology company dedicated to curbing reckless driving, today announced the alarming results of a landmark driver behavior safety study in Colorado.

The driver behavior study, based on 30-minute observation windows across 196 intersections in 25 Colorado cities and counties, exposes nearly 7,900 violations from a total of nearly 50,000 vehicles. The study observed multiple different intersection types and driver activities, including stop signs, red lights, yield signs, speeding, distracted driving, and seatbelt usage. When extrapolated, the data projects a staggering 200,000 daily violations at just these intersections. For the first time, this study directly links the real-time, high-volume of traffic violations to the state's tragic crash statistics. 3,562 people were killed on Colorado's roads from 2021 to 2025, and an estimated 16,000 were seriously injured in that time.

Pete Piccolo, Executive Director of Bicycle Colorado, said, "This isn't about isolated incidents; it's about a systemic failure of compliance on our roads that puts drivers and people outside of vehicles at risk. When drivers disobey stop signs, run red lights, fail to yield, speed, or drive distracted, the consequences are disproportionately borne by people bicycling and walking. This data provides undeniable evidence that in addition to changing infrastructure to prioritize safety and educating drivers, we must use the technology at our disposal to implement scalable and unbiased traffic enforcement to save lives."

Ali Rehan, co-founder and CEO of Obvio, added, "The language of 'accident' is misleading. It implies these events are just bad luck. Yet our observational dataset, based upon our AI safety cameras, confirms the massive scale of bad driver behavior, which translates directly into the state's annual toll of traffic violence. These are preventable outcomes, which we seek to eliminate entirely."

Key Findings from the study identify a driving culture of risky behaviors and the growing public health epidemic of traffic violence, which disproportionately affects bicyclists and pedestrians:

• Deadly Intersections: The study found that 44.5% of vehicles observed did not properly stop at a stop sign intersection, and the rate of red light violations was 1.7%. According to the US DOT, roughly one–quarter of traffic fatalities and about one–half of all traffic injuries occur at intersections.
• Distracted Driving Threat: Cell phone use was observed in approximately 3.8% of drivers, projecting to about 20,000 daily instances of distracted driving across just the monitored intersections. Research shows that texting while driving makes a person 23 times more likely to crash. Distraction is linked to an estimated 69–72 deaths and more than 15,000 crashes each year in our state. Although holding a cell phone while driving is illegal in Colorado, this widespread and dangerous behavior continues to put everyone on our roads at risk.
• Seatbelt Misuse Persists: The study found that approximately 8.6% of drivers were not wearing seatbelts while driving. Even with massive public education campaigns over the past decade, seatbelt compliance has not reached 100% in Colorado, though seatbelts have been proven time and again to prevent significant injury in a collision.

The paper concludes that relying solely on manual police enforcement cannot keep pace with the systemic scale of law-breaking—police cannot be at hundreds of intersections simultaneously. AI automated enforcement offers an easily scalable solution for safety.

Rehan adds, "The evidence is clear: Colorado's traffic deaths are predictable, preventable, and rooted in human behavior. Automated enforcement, guided by AI, is about establishing a culture of compliance. When laws are enforced consistently, compliance becomes the norm. And when compliance becomes the norm, lives are saved."

Citing evidence that red-light cameras alone can reduce fatal crashes by 21%, and with a clear legal framework in place in Colorado permitting the use of automated enforcement, the study calls for municipalities to adopt a comprehensive automated enforcement strategy as a scalable, unbiased way to save hundreds of lives each year—especially the lives of vulnerable road users. Consistent enforcement of traffic laws, paired with timely and meaningful consequences, changes driver behavior and saves lives.

For Media Inquiries:
Ashley Vander Meeden
Bicycle Colorado
720-504-8515 |  [email protected]

Driver Behavior Study Assets
View the full driver behavior study or example videos from the study. To view all the observed data from the study, request the raw dataset from Obvio.

About Bicycle Colorado
Established in 1992, Bicycle Colorado is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Denver. Their mission is to advocate for all people who ride bikes. They envision a Colorado where all people and communities benefit from safe and accessible bicycling. Learn more at bicyclecolorado.org and follow them on social media: Facebook @BicycleColorado Instagram @BicycleColo X @BicycleColo

About Obvio
Obvio improves traffic safety by providing AI-powered traffic cameras. Obvio is on a mission to prevent traffic deaths while rebuilding public trust and a sense of shared responsibility on the roads. With Obvio, cities have reduced traffic violations by over 70 percent. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company is backed by leading investors such as Bain Capital Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Pathlight Ventures. To learn more, visit obvio.ai.

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SOURCE Obvio