I didn’t understand what a person was talking about when they said “puffing” is illegal in Colorado Springs. I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to appear stupid. Does it have anything to do with sniffing illegal substances or anything to do with smoking something? Thanks for your help.

— Dan L.

ANSWER: Neither of those.

“Puffers” are people who leave their unattended vehicles running to warm up during cold weather. The cars are running, keys inside and are unlocked.

Frequently, “puffers” turn into people filling out police reports when those vehicles are quickly driven away by car thieves.

Is “puffing” illegal? Yes

According to the Colorado State Patrol, car thieves are very adept at spotting the exhaust (thus the “puffing”) from a vehicle that’s running.

“Puffing” is illegal when a driver just runs into a convenience store for coffee or drops a child off at day care and it’s illegal when a vehicle is locked up and left running in a resident’s driveway to warm up. It takes a car thief a couple of seconds to get into a locked car.

There’s a statewide campaign and auto-theft prevention campaign, Coloradans Against Auto Theft, to train drivers to turn vehicles off and lock the doors: lockdownyourcar.org

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