August changes traffic patterns across El Paso as school buses return, parent drop-off lines form, teen drivers resume morning commutes, and children begin walking or biking near campuses. These changes can make familiar streets less predictable during the first weeks of school. You can reduce risk by slowing down, putting your phone away, allowing more travel time, and expecting abrupt stops near schools and bus routes.
Back-to-school congestion is not limited to a marked school zone. Traffic can spread into nearby intersections, neighborhood streets, parking lots, frontage roads, and routes used by buses and working parents. When a collision occurs, prompt medical care and careful documentation can help protect your health and preserve evidence.
School traffic can begin several blocks before the marked school zone. Slow down before congestion becomes visible.
Why August Changes Driving Conditions 
The start of the school year places many road users in the same area at the same time. A driver may be watching a flashing school-zone sign while a child approaches a crosswalk, a bus stops ahead, and another parent changes lanes to reach a campus entrance. Even a careful driver has less room for error when traffic becomes compressed.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, Texas recorded 781 traffic crashes in school zones during 2024. Those crashes caused two deaths and 17 serious injuries. Texas also recorded 2,480 crashes involving school buses, with 11 deaths and 93 serious injuries. TxDOT identified driver inattention, speed, and failure to yield the right of way as leading concerns.
Official TxDOT source:
https://www.txdot.gov/safety/traffic-safety-campaigns/back-to-school.html
Common August risk factors include:
- Longer lines near campus entrances and exits
- Sudden stops, unsafe turns, and last-minute lane changes
- Children crossing between parked vehicles
- School buses stopping on busy roads
- Teen drivers with limited experience
- Parents using phones for directions, schedules, or messages
- Delivery vehicles and commuters sharing neighborhood routes
- Morning and afternoon sun glare that reduces visibility
In El Paso, low-angle sunlight can make traffic signals, pedestrians, cyclists, and brake lights harder to see. Drivers should use clean windshields, sunglasses when appropriate, and greater following distance when glare affects visibility.
School Zones Require More Than Following the Posted Speed
Following the posted speed limit is only one part of safe school-zone driving. You should also scan sidewalks, parked vehicles, crosswalks, driveways, and the space around school buses. Children may misjudge distance or speed, and younger students may move suddenly when they see a parent, teacher, or friend.
Texas law restricts certain wireless-device use in an active school crossing zone or on designated public school property while a reduced school-zone speed limit is in effect. Statutory exceptions can apply, including use while the vehicle is stopped and use through a hands-free function. The safest choice is to put the phone away before reaching the school area.
A distracted driver may miss a crossing guard, a chain of brake lights, or a child entering the roadway. Learn more about distracted-driving claims:
https://chavezlawfirm.law/texting-while-driving/
Enrique Chavez
Texas Trial Attorney
Protecting Your Rights
School Bus Stops Create Special Duties
School buses make frequent stops during August while drivers and families adjust to new routes. Texas law generally requires a motorist approaching a stopped school bus from either direction to stop before reaching the bus when its required visual signal is operating. The motorist must remain stopped until the bus moves, the signal is no longer operating, or the bus driver signals that traffic may proceed.
An exception can apply when a bus is on a different roadway of a divided highway or on a controlled-access highway where the bus is stopped in a loading zone that pedestrians cannot access from the roadway. A painted center turn lane does not necessarily create this exception. Drivers should pay close attention to medians, barriers, road design, signs, and traffic controls.
Official Texas Transportation Code source:
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/GetStatute.aspx?Code=TN&Value=545.066
Passing a stopped school bus can place children in direct danger because students may cross in front of the bus where they are difficult to see. A collision may involve the passing driver, the bus driver, a private bus contractor, another vehicle, or more than one party.
When a public school district or another governmental unit may be involved, special immunity rules, claim limits, and notice requirements may apply. Texas law generally treats school districts differently from private parties, although motor-vehicle claims can fall within a limited statutory waiver. These cases require a prompt review of the bus ownership, the driver’s employer, the route, and the facts of the crash.
Where Back-to-School Crashes Often Happen
Many August collisions happen outside the center of a school zone. Risk can build at the edge of congestion, where drivers do not expect traffic to slow. A rear-end crash may happen several blocks from campus when a line forms suddenly. A side-impact crash may occur when a parent turns left across traffic. A parking-lot collision may involve a reversing vehicle, a pedestrian, or a child exiting from the passenger side.
Common scenarios include:
- A driver follows too closely behind a vehicle stopping for a crossing guard.
- A motorist changes lanes without checking for a teen cyclist.
- A parent blocks a crosswalk while waiting to enter a pickup line.
- A driver fails to yield while turning through a crowded intersection.
- A vehicle hits a pedestrian who enters the roadway between parked vehicles.
- A distracted driver rear-ends a school bus or another vehicle.
- A driver attempts to pass congestion through a turn lane or parking area.
An investigation may examine driver conduct, bus-camera recordings, school surveillance footage, vehicle data, witness accounts, road design, traffic-control timing, and available phone records.
– Steve Hendrix – Adriana Solis – Luis Amador – Maria Terrazas
What to Do After an August Car Accident
Your first steps can protect your health and preserve evidence. Call 911 when someone is injured, the crash blocks traffic, a driver leaves the scene, or you believe emergency assistance is needed. Follow the dispatcher’s instructions and move to a safer location when you can do so without creating another hazard.
Exchange identifying and insurance information. Avoid arguing about fault or making statements that guess about what happened. A complete investigation may reveal facts that were not visible at the scene.
Try to document:
- Vehicle positions and visible damage
- School-zone signs, flashing lights, and traffic signals
- Bus numbers, company names, route numbers, or other identifying details
- Crosswalks, lane markings, medians, barriers, and visual obstructions
- Weather, sunlight, and road conditions
- Witness names and contact information
- Your symptoms and the time they began
- Any statement that a driver was using a phone, speeding, or rushing
- Nearby cameras on buses, schools, homes, and businesses
Photographs and video taken before vehicles move may help explain how the crash happened. Use this full guide for more steps after an injury accident:
https://chavezlawfirm.law/steps-to-take-immediately-after-a-personal-injury-accident-in-texas/
Get Medical Care and Follow the Treatment Plan
Some injuries are obvious at the scene. Others, including concussions, neck injuries, back injuries, and soft-tissue damage, may become more noticeable after the initial shock fades. Seek prompt medical attention when you have pain, dizziness, numbness, confusion, limited movement, a headache, or any concern about a child passenger.
Tell the medical provider how the collision occurred and describe every symptom accurately. Keep discharge papers, prescriptions, bills, mileage records, referral information, and work restrictions. Follow recommended care and attend scheduled appointments when possible. Medical records can help connect your injuries to the collision and document how your condition changes over time.
Additional guidance about medical treatment after an injury is available here:
https://chavezlawfirm.law/seeking-medical-treatment-after-an-injury/
How Fault and Compensation May Be Evaluated
A back-to-school accident claim usually begins with negligence. The central question is whether a driver or another party failed to use reasonable care and caused injury. Evidence may show speeding, distraction, unsafe passing, failure to yield, following too closely, or violation of a school-bus safety rule.
Texas uses proportionate responsibility. Your recoverable damages may be reduced by your percentage of responsibility. Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 33.001, a claimant cannot recover damages when the claimant’s percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent.
Official Texas proportionate-responsibility source:
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/?artSec=33.001&chapter=CP.33&code=CP&tab=1
Insurance companies may argue that you stopped suddenly, crossed outside a marked area, failed to watch traffic, or contributed to the collision. Photographs, video, witnesses, crash reports, vehicle data, and consistent medical records can help address disputed fault.
Depending on the facts and available coverage, compensation may include:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost income
- Reduced earning capacity
- Property damage
- Physical pain
- Mental anguish
- Physical impairment
- Future care needs
Every claim depends on its evidence, injuries, insurance coverage, and applicable law.
Deadlines Can Arrive Before Evidence Is Collected
Texas generally allows two years to file many personal injury lawsuits. Exceptions can shorten or extend that period, and a different rule may apply to a particular claim. Claims involving a governmental unit may also require written notice much earlier than the ordinary lawsuit deadline.
Official Texas limitations source:
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/?artSec=16.003&chapter=CP.16&code=CP&tab=2
Evidence can disappear before any legal deadline expires. Bus-camera footage, school surveillance video, business recordings, and vehicle data may be overwritten or lost. Witnesses may also become harder to locate. Prompt action gives an attorney more time to identify and preserve relevant evidence.
How an El Paso Car Accident Attorney Can Help
An attorney can investigate the crash, request available video, inspect the scene, interview witnesses, review insurance coverage, identify responsible parties, and evaluate whether special governmental rules apply. Legal counsel can also communicate with insurance adjusters and calculate losses that may continue after the initial claim.
Chavez Law Firm represents people injured in El Paso and nearby communities. The firm prepares injury cases with trial in mind, offers free case evaluations, and has more than 20 years of collective experience.
Learn more about the firm’s personal injury practice:
https://chavezlawfirm.law/el-paso-personal-injury-lawyers/
Read about Attorney Enrique Chavez, Jr.:
https://chavezlawfirm.law/attorney-enrique-chavez-jr/
Frequently Asked Questions About Back-to-School Car Accidents
Do Texas Drivers Have to Stop for a School Bus on the Opposite Side of the Road?
Drivers approaching from either direction generally must stop when a school bus is stopped to receive or discharge a student and its required visual signal is operating. A divided-highway or controlled-access exception may apply in limited situations. Road design matters, so drivers should not assume that multiple lanes or a center turn lane permit them to continue.
Can a Parent or School District Be Responsible for a School-Area Collision?
A parent or another driver may be responsible when negligent driving causes a crash. A school district claim requires a separate legal analysis because Texas law limits claims against school districts and other governmental units. Motor-vehicle use, bus ownership, driver employment, notice rules, and immunity can affect the answer.
What Evidence Can Help After a Crash Near a School?
Useful evidence may include photographs, witness information, police reports, bus-camera video, school surveillance recordings, nearby business or home camera footage, vehicle data, phone records obtained through lawful procedures, and medical records. Evidence should be requested and preserved as early as possible.
Talk With an El Paso Car Accident Lawyer
An August collision can disrupt medical care, work, school transportation, and family routines at the same time. Chavez Law Firm can review the crash, explain the insurance issues, identify possible evidence, and help you evaluate your legal options.
Call 915-995-5777 to request a free case evaluation.
Contact the firm online:
https://chavezlawfirm.law/contact-us/
The firm serves clients throughout El Paso County and nearby areas.
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. Consult an attorney about your specific situation.
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