A new school year and new Colorado law could catch a lot of motorists off guard this week, as school buses return to the state’s streets and highways.
Vehicles traveling in both directions are now required to stop when a school bus’ red lights are flashing and the stop arm goes out unless there is a physical barrier or median (raised or depressed) separating the lanes of travel in each direction.
“Painted lines or a painted median will no longer be sufficient,” the Colorado State Patrol said in a news release, noting the change enacted by the state legislature May 24, 2025.
When do drivers need to stop for school buses?
According to the Colorado State Patrol:
Drivers must stop at least 20 feet before reaching a school bus that is stopped with its red lights flashing, whether it’s on your side of the road, the opposite side of the road or at an intersection.
You are not required to stop if the school bus with its red lights flashing is on a roadway opposite you that is separated by a raised or depressed median or other physical barrier.
You must remain stopped until the flashing red lights are no longer operating.
Use caution after the school bus begins to move, as there will be children crossing or near the roadway. Wait and watch before proceeding.
“Knowing when you are required to stop needs to become second nature,” Col. Matthew C. Packard, chief of the Colorado State Patrol, said in the news release. “School buses create temporary traffic control zones; they are mobile safety zones for the bus and the vulnerable population they transport.”
Colorado drivers are not required to stop for school buses pulled over on the side of the road with no lights on or yellow hazard lights flashing, only when the red stop lights are on.
Poudre School District has seen increase in drivers violating law
Poudre School District officials said they have seen an increasing number of violations of the school bus-stop laws in recent years. Eric Baal, safety and training manager for PSD’s transportation department, believes many of the violations are committed by drivers new to the state who don’t know Colorado’s laws.
Regardless of the reason, drivers passing school buses when they are stopped to pick up or drop off children is a huge concern, especially at the start of a new school year. Students in PSD as well as the neighboring Thompson and Weld RE-4 school districts begin school Aug. 13-14. About one-third of the roughly 27,000 students in PSD’s noncharter schools rely on school buses to get to and from school each day.
“It’s very dangerous, and it’s very concerning, and our drivers are up against it every single time they come to a school bus stop,” Baal said. “It’s the most dangerous part of their day, and they deal with that tens, if not hundreds, of times a day, depending on the route that they drive.”
Fort Collins police issued 573 citations for speeding in school zones in 2024 and 232 so far in 2025 but issued just nine citations for failing to stop for a stopped school bus displaying flashing red lights in 2024 and none yet in 2025, spokesperson J Gillmore wrote in an Aug. 11 email. The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office was unable to provide data on warnings or citations issued for school bus-stop violations when requested Aug. 6 by the Coloradoan. The Colorado State Patrol said it issued 15 citations for failing to stop for a stopped school bus displaying flashing red lights in 2024 and nine from January through May of 2025, according to a news release.
PSD does not collect data on violations reported by its school bus drivers, Transportation Director Dan Weaver and Baal told the Coloradoan in an Aug. 8 interview.
But 101 of its drivers did participate in a national one-day survey April 30 and reported 60 violations that day, Baal said. There were 27 illegal passings reported in the morning, one during a midday run and 32 in the afternoon. Of those violations, 54 were by vehicles traveling in the opposite direction of the school bus, passing on the driver’s side while the red lights were flashing and the stop-sign arm was extended. Six were by vehicles passing the bus from behind, including two that made unusually dangerous passes on the right side of buses, where students get on and off.
No PSD students have been struck by a vehicle while getting on or off school buses in recent years, Weaver said. Statewide, there have been just five crashes involving vehicles that failed to stop for school buses displaying flashing red lights, Colorado State Patrol reported. One of those was a crash involving injury, while the other four resulted in only property damage.
PSD school buses are not equipped with video cameras or license-plate readers to record violations, Baal said, but might look into adding that technology in the future.
School bus drivers are instructed to focus on the safety of students getting on and off the buses rather than trying to record vehicle descriptions or license-plate numbers. Drivers do report “hot spots” where multiple violations occur, Baal said, and those are shared with school resource officers from Fort Collins police and the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, who can request patrol cars to monitor those areas.
School bus stops designed to keep students safe
PSD will start the 2025-26 school year with 112 school bus routes, Baal said. The location of bus stops is designed to maximize student safety, he said, avoiding major thoroughfares whenever possible and limiting the number of stops on a single street through a neighborhood to minimize the number of times a driver behind a particular bus will have to stop.
Federal law, though, requires the school district to provide door-to-door bus service to certain students with special needs. And that sometimes requires stops along major streets, including Prospect and Harmony roads, Baal said.
School bus drivers provide training to keep students safe
The standard training for PSD school bus drivers includes navigating a test course with simulated railroad crossings, crosswalks and bus stops, Weaver said. Drivers must complete that multiple times while earning the commercial driver’s license required to operate a school bus in Colorado.
PSD school bus drivers are also required to train students who ride their buses on some basic safety protocols, Baal said.
“Our drivers are all taught to tell the kids to make eye contact; to walk out 10 giant steps in front of the school bus, stop on the side of the road that they’re waiting to cross, make direct eye contact with the driver, and then the driver does a crossing signal,” Baal said. “And then, as the kids are crossing, they’re supposed to stop before they enter the middle of the roadway and look for themselves to make sure that there isn’t a car coming. And then, if they hear the (bus) horn honk, they immediately return to the side of the road they started on.
“We put those safety plans in place to make sure that the kids know what they’re doing, too, and what to look for in case there is a car that’s not paying attention.”
Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at [email protected], x.com/KellyLyell, threads.net/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: When do Colorado drivers have to stop for school buses?
Comments