While AAA calls a Colorado bill prohibiting law enforcement from asking people why they were pulled over “the right thing to do,” Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly called it a “waste of time.”

Democrats Rep. Mandy Lindsay and Sen. Faith Winter sponsored the one-page House Bill 1243 that, if enacted, would no longer allow officers to ask drivers or passengers if they know the reason for a traffic stop.

“A peace officer’s failure to comply with the bill is not grounds for exclusion of evidence or dismissal of a charge,” the bill also said. 

Skyler McKinley, AAA’s regional director of public affairs, told Colorado Politics on Tuesday that the group supports the bill for two reasons. First, he said that when drivers are pulled over, they are already vulnerable and nervous. Being put on the spot creates more anxiety than is needed, he said.

“It fosters trust, clarity, and mutual respect between law enforcement and members of their communities in those moments they’re most likely to interact,” McKinley said.

Second, McKinley said, “It reduces the time that both drivers and law officers spend at the roadside with traffic whipping by, likely the most dangerous place either will be at any point in any given day. That protects everybody, from drivers to passengers to law enforcement.”

McKinley said the bill would complement Colorado’s Move Over Law, which requires drivers to move over or slow down when approaching a stopped or pulled-over vehicle or when emergency lights are flashing.

McKinley said the Colorado bill is like one passed in Minnesota. Similar laws have also been passed in Connecticut and California.

Weekly, the Douglas County sheriff, called the bill a waste of time because traffic stop protocols have changed over time, and his county’s deputies, for instance, don’t even ask that question anymore. The question sets an “unneeded adversarial” tone, he said.

Instead, Weekly said deputies usually introduce themselves and, at most, might ask a few questions about why the driver did what they are pulled over for.

“It’s just kind of silly, and I hope our legislature has better things to do,” Weekly said. “With the number of issues our state has right now, I think there could be better use of time than this.”