The start of classes for School District 49 on August 3 brought both a new academic year and a swift law enforcement response to dangerous driving near schools in the region. The El Paso County Sheriff's Office carried out school zone enforcement operations that first day of the 2026–2027 term. The effort coincided with Colorado State Patrol releasing figures that cast El Paso County's road safety record around school buses in an unfavorable light.
Deputies worked five campuses — Horizon Middle, Evans Elementary, Falcon Middle, Falcon High, and Meridian Ranch Elementary — and ended the operation having cited seven drivers for traveling between 10 and 19 mph over the posted school zone speed limit. A separate problem required deputies to remain stationed at pedestrian crosswalks near Falcon Middle School alongside School Resource Officers, after multiple motorists failed to stop for children making legal crossings in marked crosswalks. EPSO said, "Every child deserves to arrive at school safely, and every driver has a responsibility to help make that happen."
State Patrol data covering the five years from 2021 through 2025 place El Paso County third in Colorado for crashes involving school buses, with 28 of the 267 statewide incidents that troopers investigated occurring there. Jefferson County recorded the most with 36, followed by Larimer County at 29. In the majority of those crashes, responsibility rested with other motorists on the road rather than with the bus operators.
The three behaviors most commonly linked to school bus crashes across Colorado were inattentive driving, improper lane use, and failure to yield. Troopers investigated 13 school bus crashes caused by distracted driving in 2025, a rise of nine from the prior year. Colorado State Trooper Hunter Mathews connected that trend to broader habits he has observed. He said that during the warmer months officers encounter what he described as "outrageous" distracted driving. He added that distracted driving frequently triggers additional violations, including speeding and drifting out of a driver's lane.
CSP noted that children who travel to school aboard a bus are 70 times more likely to arrive safely than those riding in a passenger vehicle, given how heavily regulated buses are compared with ordinary cars. CSP Chief Colonel Matthew C. Packard urged motorists to keep more distance from buses and reduce their speed. "Kids aren't always predictable, and stopping is more frequent for bus drivers. We all need to do our part to create a safe environment by exercising patience around school buses," Packard said.
State law sets clear requirements for drivers who encounter a stopped bus. When a school bus activates its alternating red flashing lights, drivers must stop immediately, and must do so at least 20 feet away — whether the bus is on their side of the road, the opposing side, or at an approaching intersection. The sole exception applies when the bus, though running its red lights, travels in the opposite direction on a roadway divided by a raised or depressed median or comparable physical barrier. Mathews stressed that reducing distractions behind the wheel is particularly important now, with more children on foot, on bikes, and boarding buses each day.
Whether EPSO plans to extend school zone enforcement to other districts in the region, and what steps CSP may take specifically in response to El Paso County's ranking, has not yet been announced.