COLORADO SPRINGS— A driving school owner said failing to slow down in school zones is the number one reason why people don't pass their license tests.
Randy Shawn has been teaching people how to drive for ten years at 1st Drive driving school.
"The one excuse that I hear, 'I didn't see flashing lights, if I saw the flashing lights, it would have warned me,' I get it," said Shawn.
Colorado Springs middle and high schools typically don't have school zones with flashing lights said the city's traffic engineer.
Flashing lights or not, Shawn said he teaches his students to slow down anyway.
"If you see the school, you slow down, regardless of what the speed is," said Shawn.
If you're driving through a school zone where lights are flashing, police said drivers must slow down to 20 miles per hour. Fines double.
One community member I spoke with said there needs to be stricter consquences.
"It has to be more than a speeding ticket and a fine," said Gail Richards. "I'm not saying go to jail, but it needs to be something that has sort of a lasting impact on the person [speeding]."
Gail Richards has lived near a high school for 25 years. She said drivers not slowing down is a big problem.
"There's a lot of speeding near the dog park and when I say speeding, I mean going way too fast," said Richards.
One of the main factors is distracted driving, according to CDOT.
She said she's more worried about the neighborhood kids crossing the road than herself.
"I get it, we're all in a hurry, we all want to get stuff done but the distraction just isn't worth it," said Richards.
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