President's Message


Tony DeNovellis
President and CEO

You might be a Coloradan if …

It was only a matter of time before comedian Jeff Foxworthy took a few shots at Colorado. Jokingly, he said that “you are Coloradan if … you know what a chinook is; you know what a Rocky Mountain oyster is; you know what a fourteener is; but you don’t know what a turn signal is.” While Foxworthy’s comments are meant to be on the lighter side, there is a message in his comment regarding failure to use a turn signal.

Have you seen someone driving for miles in the passing lane, holding up traffic; have you seen someone pass an emergency vehicle stopped by the side of the road without slowing down or moving over; or have you seen drivers raising and lowering their eyes, trying to text and drive?

There’s a state law against each one of these potentially fatal behaviors, laws that AAA Colorado pushed for and continues to support, and we wish those measures weren’t necessary. We wish Colorado drivers would recover the idea of common courtesy—using the left lane only to pass, moving over for an emergency vehicle, and turning off the phone before driving. And perhaps more and more drivers will decide to do all these things. But until then, conditions on Colorado roads will be less friendly, not more.

Law enforcement is vital to public safety, and it may save lives to take some especially dangerous drivers off the roads, but it makes so much more sense, and saves a lot of taxpayer dollars, to begin by treating each other with respect—by arranging for a sober ride home after a party, pulling safely off the road for a phone call or text, keeping a safe distance behind the next vehicle, and other simple actions like using the turn signals that make us all safer.

Teaching new generations of drivers these steps is one reason why AAA Colorado will continue to be an outspoken advocate of graduated driver training, beginning in the teen years (see Keys2Drive at www.TeenDriving.AAA.com). We’ll continue to speak out on distracted driving, because between 4,000 and 8,000 crashes related to distracted driving occur daily in the United States. Cell phones contribute to as many as one-half of the 6 million U.S. crashes reported annually (for more information visit http://www.aaafoundation.org). And we’ll continue to communicate with the Colorado Legislature, asking lawmakers to enact measures that encourage safer driving.

Advocacy is part of who AAA is. With your help, AAA Colorado has done more than any other group to make Colorado roads safer. But our work isn’t done. Each generation of drivers is an opportunity to get better, or fall behind. And I firmly believe with your help we can move Colorado forward.

Tony DeNovellis
President and CEO

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