Any person whose license or other privilege to operate a motor vehicle has been suspended, cancelled, or revoked, and restoration thereof or issuance of a new license is contingent upon the furnishing of proof of financial responsibility for the future, and who, during such suspension or revocation or in the absence of proper authorization from the director, drives any motor vehicle upon any highway in Colorado except as permitted under this article, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than five days nor more than six months and, in the discretion of the court, a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars may be imposed. The minimum sentence imposed by this section shall be mandatory, and the court shall not grant probation or a suspended sentence, in whole or in part, or reduce or suspend the fine, except in a case where the defendant has established that the defendant had to drive the motor vehicle in violation of this section because of an emergency, in which case the mandatory jail sentence does not apply. Such minimum sentence need not be five consecutive days but may be served during any thirty-day period.
Source: L. 94: Entire title amended with relocations, p. 2488, § 1, effective January 1, 1995.