El Paso County is wearing an unwanted crown in 2025, with new Colorado State Patrol numbers showing it leads the state in extreme-speed citations. Troopers say the county-by-county breakdown is a flashing warning light for anyone tearing through mountain corridors or flying along Front Range highways, especially as icy winter pavement gives way to busier spring travel. Higher speeds, they stress, turn already bad crashes into brutal ones, particularly on tight, two-lane roads.
According to KDVR, El Paso County logged 1,727 high-interval speeding citations in 2025. Summit County followed with 1,335, with Jefferson at 873, Adams at 755, and Eagle at 728, rounding out the top five. The Colorado State Patrol classifies a "high-interval" or "extreme" ticket as one where a driver is clocked at roughly 20 mph or more over the posted limit. This category comes with steeper penalties and more points on a license, per the Colorado State Patrol.
Statewide, troopers issued just under 44,000 speeding citations in 2025, a total that highlights the prevalence of excessive speed on Colorado roads, according to KKTV. That number is actually a dip from the more than 47,000 speeding citations handed out in 2024, a figure reported by the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Where speeds spike
Trooper Gabriel Moltrer told KDVR that drivers pushing the limit on narrow, winding mountain corridors and along Interstates 70 and 25 are especially dangerous. Moltrer said troopers responded to nearly 12,000 crashes between November 2024 and March 2025, and that speeding was a leading factor in many of those wrecks, according to the outlet.
Enforcement and penalties
In response, the State Patrol is leaning into a "Stop Speeding" initiative that blends public education with extra enforcement in known speed hot spots, the agency says. Under Colorado law, driving 25 mph or more over the posted limit is a misdemeanor that can bring fines, court costs, and even jail time, a penalty setup the Colorado State Patrol in its guidance.
Troopers and transportation officials are urging Coloradans to tap the brakes, leave more room between vehicles, and report dangerous drivers by dialing *CSP (*277), according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. For anyone heading to the high country this year, the bottom line is blunt: slow it down on those narrow passes and crowded interstates, it protects lives and keeps you from ending your trip on the wrong side of a citation pad.
