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DUI law in Colorado

The criminal charge and your driving privileges are separate questions. Check both.

DUI law in Colorado concerns both the criminal charge and the right to drive. The applicable licence process depends on the alleged conduct, test result or refusal, and the notice or court order. A criminal court date is not a substitute for checking a separate licence deadline. The cited rules below identify what has been verified for this jurisdiction.

The two legal questions

The criminal charge and driving privileges can involve different proceedings. The notice, order and cited rule identify the applicable process.

Driving privileges

The licence case

Forum
The agency or court identified by the applicable licence proceeding
Clock
Check the applicable notice or order for the deadline and its starting event
Deadline to request a hearing
The department must receive the written hearing request within 7 days after the day you receive the revocation notice, or are deemed to have received it by mail.
  • This is the administrative revocation procedure under C.R.S. § 42-2-126. A mailed notice is deemed received three days after mailing; the deadline is tied to notice, not simply the arrest date.
  • A late request must include a verified explanation. The department must grant it if the statutory grounds—lack of actual notice or physical incapacity such as hospitalization or incarceration—are established. That late-hearing procedure does not stay the revocation.
Verified C.R.S. § 42-2-126Official source (opens in a new tab)
Suspension under the cited rule
Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.
Hearing procedure under the cited rule
Request review of the department’s revocation determination in writing. Section 42-2-126(7)(a) provides for a request form available at each department office.
  • The revocation notice must explain the hearing-request procedure and state the deadline. The department must receive the written request within the applicable seven-day period.
  • This administrative proceeding is independent of the criminal case. The disposition of criminal charges does not determine the revocation under this section.
Verified C.R.S. § 42-2-126Official source (opens in a new tab)

Criminal charge

The criminal case

Forum
A criminal court
Clock
Check court notices and orders; no case duration is predicted here
Alcohol-concentration threshold
0.08%
Verified C.R.S. § 42-4-1301Official source (opens in a new tab)
First-offense penalty rule
Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.The cited rule may describe a range or a minimum with conditions, not a predicted sentence.
Lookback period
Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.

Alcohol-concentration thresholds in Colorado

The cited provision controls the threshold’s scope. Underage and commercial rules can concern licensing as well as criminal liability; they are not all the same offense.

Standard drivers
0.08%
Verified C.R.S. § 42-4-1301Official source (opens in a new tab)
Operating a commercial motor vehicle
Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.
Under-21 rule
Not published yet. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed against the official source and dated.

Colorado in detail

License suspensionThe administrative deadline to request a hearing, what happens if it passes, and how the licence case runs beside the criminal one.PenaltiesStatutory ranges by offense number, lookback-period aware — fines, jail, suspension length, interlock.Implied consent and refusalWhat refusing a test does to the licence case and to the criminal case.

8 further Colorado topics — interlock, hardship licences, drug DUI, felony DUI, underage, commercial drivers, checkpoints and record relief — are part of the approved taxonomy and are not built yet.