Does everybody in colorado love colorado? (Denver, Boulder: sales, movers, crime)

[debm1776]

See my reply to the recent post "why do people leave Colorado." The traffic is horrific around Denver and the Springs, they are building on every inch of land and I feel unsafe in what I and many others consider to be a "police state." Maybe your family has been lucky, but luck can always give out.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by debm1776

See my reply to the recent post "why do people leave Colorado." The traffic is horrific around Denver and the Springs, they are building on every inch of land and I feel unsafe in what I and many others consider to be a "police state." Maybe your family has been lucky, but luck can always give out.

hm. this is interesting - i've noticed that police can be especially..."vigilant", at least around denver and boulder, even to the point of "what the?".

what have you seen or heard?

[COflower]

Originally Posted by hello-world

hm. this is interesting - i've noticed that police can be especially..."vigilant", at least around denver and boulder, even to the point of "what the?".

what have you seen or heard?

hello-world No offense to deb but I think she's going off an instance where she personally felt she was being treated unfairly although, without exact knowledge of her case, it's hard to say. Some people are angry and only one issue ruins it for them.

Yes, the police will be aggressive in catching speeders/traffic offenders but I don't think that ends at the borders of Colorado. Yes, Colorado Front Range traffic is not much fun but given some of the posts in various places in the Colorado forums, some transplants have said that Colorado traffic is no where near the proportions of those in some the more populated places like the Wash. DC/Virginia area, LA, Houston, etc...

Anyhow, as with any public message board, unless people have truly established themselves, I would put the post/comment into consideration but read other people's posts/comments to get a good feel of the area. One commenter can't be the only way to gauge an entire state.

[Katiana]

I have two kids who learned to drive here in Colorado, and neither (to my knowledge) have received a ticket for a moving violation. (One seems to be continually getting parking tickets in Denver.) That says more about law enforcement than it does about their driving, IMO! In short, I do not think law enforcement is too harsh, at least not in Louisville/Boulder. One of mine would probably be in jail if she were actually stopped every time she exceeded the speed limit! I rarely even see police cars in Boulder.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by COflower

hello-world No offense to deb but I think she's going off an instance where she personally felt she was being treated unfairly although, without exact knowledge of her case, it's hard to say. Some people are angry and only one issue ruins it for them.

Yes, the police will be aggressive in catching speeders/traffic offenders but I don't think that ends at the borders of Colorado. Yes, Colorado Front Range traffic is not much fun but given some of the posts in various places in the Colorado forums, some transplants have said that Colorado traffic is no where near the proportions of those in some the more populated places like the Wash. DC/Virginia area, LA, Houston, etc...

Anyhow, as with any public message board, unless people have truly established themselves, I would put the post/comment into consideration but read other people's posts/comments to get a good feel of the area. One commenter can't be the only way to gauge an entire state.

i've just heard of some friends having run ins with the police in boulder and in denver over things that i wouldn't think the police would waste the time on in any of the other places i've lived. e.g., pulling people over for DUI and put through the dog and pony show when (and it's a reliable source) someone HAD been obeying ALL the rules so they WOULDN'T get pulled over (and they hadn't been drinking!). e.g. 2, someone getting pulled over for going 60 in a 55 (when the 65 MPH sign was only about 5 carlengths ahead!).

as for front range traffic versus other places' traffic, i would say that it just seems less savvy and more erratic than other places'. people from all over the mid and mountain west mixed in with some californians etc (mexico, e.g.), so especially wide ranges of familiarity. never seen so many people so confused by intersections, so irregularly using turn signals, so regularly at a loss with merging traffic, hanging out in the passing lane going 10 MPH under the speed limit with legions behind them (there are signs REQUIRING them NOT to do this), stopping in the middle of the road, rubber necking when someone's pulled well off the road, slowing to a crawl up a minor grade and then 80MPH down it as if gravity - not their engine - rules their inertia, driving in the city like they've never driven in a city in all their lives, etc.. not QUITE the volume of some other places (but getting there! ...esp roads like 287, 36, 93, and some of the southern suburbs'). other places have their quirks, these seem to me to be some of the front ranges. they happen everywhere, but not quite like they can be in these regards in colorado.

[b.adams]

Most days, if I encounter traffic ... 80% of time is a similar situation: there is a cop car or two and car or two of illegals explaining something to the cops ... and everyone just slows down to look for 2 seconds. The other 20% of the time, it is a real accident. Trust me, after returning from most places, the highways here feel like a cow town and no bad at all by comparison.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by b.adams

Most days, if I encounter traffic ... 80% of time is a similar situation: there is a cop car or two and car or two of illegals explaining something to the cops ... and everyone just slows down to look for 2 seconds. The other 20% of the time, it is a real accident. Trust me, after returning from most places, the highways here feel like a cow town and no bad at all by comparison.

i pretty much agree. i've spent plenty of time in some very congested places. just saying the nature of it here can be more utterly perplexing.

[downtownnola]

Originally Posted by hello-world

as for front range traffic versus other places' traffic, i would say that it just seems less savvy and more erratic than other places'. people from all over the mid and mountain west mixed in with some californians etc (mexico, e.g.), so especially wide ranges of familiarity. never seen so many people so confused by intersections, so irregularly using turn signals, so regularly at a loss with merging traffic, hanging out in the passing lane going 10 MPH under the speed limit with legions behind them (there are signs REQUIRING them NOT to do this), stopping in the middle of the road, rubber necking when someone's pulled well off the road, slowing to a crawl up a minor grade and then 80MPH down it as if gravity - not their engine - rules their inertia, driving in the city like they've never driven in a city in all their lives, etc.. not QUITE the volume of some other places (but getting there! ...esp roads like 287, 36, 93, and some of the southern suburbs'). other places have their quirks, these seem to me to be some of the front ranges. they happen everywhere, but not quite like they can be in these regards in colorado.

LOL most everything you said is right on. Just today on my lunch break I was cruising along with traffic on I-25. Traffic was moving along at a steady pace- people were driving about about 70-75mph. Suddenly, this lady in her Dodge Durango decided to cut into the far left lane (for no apparent reason) and slowed down to about 5 mph under the speed limit for several miles. There was alot of traffic on the road so it was hard to pass her. Finally when there was a break, people were flying in every which lane to get around her. When I finally got beside her, I noticed she had this dumbfounded look on her face as though she was surprised people were passing her- after all, she was already going 5 under the speed limit!

ARGHHH!! I just don't get it! If you want to drive like Grandma Moses on some dirt country road in the middle of nowhere, go for it! I don't think the tumblweeds will care. But, when you're holding up an entire city because you're too incompetent, lazy or self absorbed to move out of the way, it is very aggrivating.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by downtownnola

When I finally got beside her, I noticed she had this dumbfounded look on her face as though she was surprised people were passing her- after all, she was already going 5 under the speed limit!

Was she on a cell phone? I can spot them from a half mile away. There's one car going 10 mph lower than the speed limit in the #1 or #2 lanes (the fast lanes), holding up traffic, and there's this chick (or dude) yapping away talking about shoes (or rims) oblivious that there are tens of cars being held up behind.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by almost heaven

How do you people in Colorado view your situation? Do you feel the homes are over priced, jobs hard to find, people rude? Is the traffic bad? Do any of you long for a move out of the state? I ask these questions because I am looking to move to colorado and I am tired of all of the above where I am now. I visit my family in Colorado a few times a year and every time I come back I feel like you people in Colorado are very lucky to have what you have. I know that is a far reaching statment, but I can see myself doing what I do there and having a quarter of the home payment, half of the traffic, a few of the rude people, and I actually would be able to understand the person at the drive through.

1. I view our situation as excellent. We're in COL SPGS, for all the reasons stated "Why Choose Colorado Springs"

2. Homes here are HALF the price of homes back in Fairfax County, VA where we're from, and I suspect, where you're at too.

3. I'm retired. Jobs aren't an issue.

4. People here are not rude, most of the comments in these CO forums tell how nice people are to them when they visit.

5. Traffic here is nothing like back in the DC area or northeast. Denver traffic is busy, but respectable, a few lead foots around.

6. I long to hit the lottery and move to either LODO in Denver or Manhattan in NYC. Otherwise, we aren't going anywhere.

As far as the experience of other SoCal folks who came here, see:
- http://www.city-data.com/forum/188325-post132.html
- http://www.city-data.com/forum/188328-post133.html

If you decide to come here, you'll probably do just fine.
If you do come here, for sure You're Gonna Love Colorado.

s/Mike