Colo. Rev. Stat. § 42-4-221

Current through 11/5/2024 election
Section 42-4-221 - Bicycle, electric scooter, and personal mobility device equipment
(1) No other provision of this part 2 and no provision of part 3 of this article 4 applies to a bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, electric scooter, or EPAMD or to equipment for use on a bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, electric scooter, or EPAMD except those provisions in this article 4 made specifically applicable to such a vehicle.
(2) Every bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, electric scooter, or EPAMD in use at the times described in section 42-4-204 shall be equipped with a lamp on the front emitting a white light visible from a distance of at least five hundred feet to the front.
(3) Every bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, electric scooter, or EPAMD shall be equipped with a red reflector of a type approved by the department, which shall be visible for six hundred feet to the rear when directly in front of lawful lower beams of head lamps on a motor vehicle.
(4) Every bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, electric scooter, or EPAMD when in use at the times described in section 42-4-204 shall be equipped with reflective material of sufficient size and reflectivity to be visible from both sides for six hundred feet when directly in front of lawful lower beams of head lamps on a motor vehicle or, in lieu of such reflective material, with a lighted lamp visible from both sides from a distance of at least five hundred feet.
(5) A bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, electric scooter, or EPAMD or its rider may be equipped with lights or reflectors in addition to those required by subsections (2) to (4) of this section.
(6) A bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or electric scooter shall not be equipped with, nor shall any person use upon a bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or electric scooter, any siren or whistle.
(7) Every bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or electric scooter shall be equipped with a brake or brakes that will enable its rider to stop the bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or electric scooter within twenty-five feet from a speed of ten miles per hour on dry, level, clean pavement.
(8) A person engaged in the business of selling bicycles, electrical assisted bicycles, or electric scooters at retail shall not sell any bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or electric scooter unless the bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or electric scooter has an identifying number permanently stamped or cast on its frame.
(8.5) A local government may regulate the operation of an electric scooter in a manner that is no more restrictive than the manner in which the local government may regulate the operation of a class 1 electrical assisted bicycle.
(9)
(a) On or after January 1, 2018, every manufacturer or distributor of new electrical assisted bicycles intended for sale or distribution in this state shall permanently affix to each electrical assisted bicycle, in a prominent location, a label that contains the classification number, top assisted speed, and motor wattage of the electrical assisted bicycle. The label must be printed in the arial font in at least nine-point type.
(b) A person shall not knowingly modify an electrical assisted bicycle so as to change the speed capability or motor engagement of the electrical assisted bicycle without also appropriately replacing, or causing to be replaced, the label indicating the classification required by subsection (9)(a) of this section.
(10)
(a) An electrical assisted bicycle must comply with the equipment and manufacturing requirements for bicycles adopted by the United States consumer product safety commission and codified at 16 CFR 1512 or its successor regulation.
(b) A class 2 electrical assisted bicycle must operate in a manner so that the electric motor is disengaged or ceases to function when the brakes are applied. Class 1 and class 3 electrical assisted bicycles must be equipped with a mechanism or circuit that cannot be bypassed and that causes the electric motor to disengage or cease to function when the rider stops pedaling.
(c) A class 3 electrical assisted bicycle must be equipped with a speedometer that displays, in miles per hour, the speed the electrical assisted bicycle is traveling.
(11) A person who violates this section commits a class B traffic infraction.

C.R.S. § 42-4-221

Amended by 2019 Ch. 271, § 5, eff. 5/23/2019.
Amended by 2017 Ch. 98, § 4, eff. 8/9/2017.
L. 94: Entire title amended with relocations, p. 2256, § 1, effective 1/1/1995. L. 2009: (1) to (8) amended, (HB 09-1026), ch. 1275, p. 1275, § 45, effective October 1. L. 2017: (9) amended and (10) and (11) added, (HB 17 -1151), ch. 296, p. 296, § 4, effective August 9. L. 2019: (1) to (8) amended and (8.5) added, (HB 19-1221), ch. 2559, p. 2559, § 5, effective May 23.

This section is similar to former § 42-4-218.5 as it existed prior to 1994, and the former § 42-4-221 was relocated to § 42-4-224.