🚗 Denver Habitual Traffic Offender (HTO) Lawyer

✅ Updated October 2025

A Habitual Traffic Offender (HTO) designation is one of the most serious administrative actions the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles can take.

Unlike a single ticket or criminal charge, HTO status is not a crime in itself — it is an administrative revocation that suspends your driving privilege for five years.

However, driving while revoked can lead to separate criminal charges with mandatory jail.

1. What Is a Habitual Traffic Offender?

Under C.R.S. § 42-2-202, a driver becomes an HTO when the DMV determines that the person has accumulated three or more qualifying convictions within seven years.

Qualifying convictions include:

• DUI, DUI per se, or DWAI
• Driving Under Restraint (DUR) or Driving After Revocation Prohibited (DARP)
• Reckless Driving
• Vehicular Assault or Vehicular Homicide
• Aggravated Motor Vehicle Theft
• Hit-and-Run (resulting in injury or death)
• Manslaughter or Criminally Negligent Homicide involving a vehicle
• False Affirmation or False Swearing under motor-vehicle laws

Colorado also counts out-of-state, municipal, and federal equivalents toward HTO status.

2. The “Points Path” to HTO Status

A driver can also reach HTO designation through point accumulation:

• Ten (10) convictions carrying four or more points within five years, or
• Eighteen (18) convictions carrying three or fewer points within five years.

Once that threshold is reached, the DMV designates the driver as a Habitual Traffic Offender and revokes the license.

3. DMV Consequences – Five-Year Revocation

When HTO status is entered, the Colorado DMV immediately revokes the driver’s license for five years under C.R.S. § 42-2-203.

During this period:

• You may not drive for any reason until the revocation ends and reinstatement is complete.
• The DMV Hearings Division cannot grant restricted or probationary licenses during the five-year period.
• A hearing may be requested only to verify record accuracy, not to shorten or modify the revocation.

In limited situations, it may be possible to pursue early reinstatement outside the hearing process — for example, if record errors exist or if a DUI/DWAI revocation allows ignition-interlock eligibility.

These matters are highly fact-specific and require a review of the driver’s history and the underlying offenses.

Driving while the five-year revocation is in effect creates a new offense: Driving After Revocation Prohibited (DARP) — a Class 2 Traffic Misdemeanor with mandatory penalties.

4. Related Offenses

Several separate offenses frequently accompany or follow HTO designation:

• Driving After Revocation Prohibited (DARP) – C.R.S. 42-2-206 → Class 2 Traffic Misdemeanor with mandatory jail or fine.
• Aggravated Driving with a Revoked License – C.R.S. 42-2-206(1)(b) → Class 1 Traffic Misdemeanor, 60-day minimum jail.
• Driving Under Restraint (DUR) – C.R.S. 42-2-138 → Often the stepping-stone to HTO status. Some forms of DUR are non-criminal infractions, while others carry criminal penalties, but all trigger serious DMV consequences.

Some of these offenses are criminal, while others (like certain forms of DUR) are non-criminal infractions, but all carry significant DMV consequences and potential long-term effects on a driver’s record.

5. Strategic Defense for HTO-Related Charges

If a driver with HTO status is stopped again and charged with Driving Under Restraint (DUR) or Driving After Revocation Prohibited (DARP), the stakes are extremely high.

In these situations, our focus shifts to strategic case management — working to minimize or eliminate additional DMV consequences wherever possible.

Every decision at the criminal-court level must be made with the administrative penalties in mind, since even a reduced or non-jail outcome can trigger extended revocations at the DMV.

6. Why Legal Representation Matters

While HTO classification itself is administrative, its impact is severe.

A knowledgeable attorney can:

• Identify and correct record inaccuracies that might invalidate the designation.
• Assess potential early-reinstatement eligibility through ignition interlock after alcohol-related revocations.
• Develop a defense strategy focused on reducing DMV exposure and preserving reinstatement eligibility.

Because HTO revocation completely removes driving privileges, strategic legal guidance can determine whether reinstatement occurs early or after years of ineligibility.

📞 Contact Monte Robbins – Denver HTO Defense Lawyer

If you’ve been labeled a Habitual Traffic Offender or charged with Driving After Revocation Prohibited, call 303-355-5148 for a personalized assessment of your case.

Citations

C.R.S. § 42-2-202 – Habitual Traffic Offenders

C.R.S. § 42-2-203 – Revocation of License for Habitual Traffic Offenders

C.R.S. § 42-2-206 – Driving After Revocation Prohibited

✅ Updated October 2025 – Reflects Current Colorado Law and DMV Procedures