Grand Junction, Colo. — Mesa County now holds the grim title of having Colorado’s fourth-highest traffic fatality rate, according to the first annual report from the Mesa County Regional Transportation Safety Task Force released this week.
With 23 people killed on local roads in 2024, the county’s rate far exceeds the state average when measured against population and miles driven. Only Weld, El Paso, and Adams counties ranked higher.
Speeding and impaired driving combined to kill or maim in more than half of all serious crashes.
Speed + Impairment = Disaster on Local Roads
The numbers hit hard.
Speeding contributed to 31 percent of fatal and serious-injury crashes in Mesa County last year. Impairment, which includes alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs, showed up in 24 percent.
“That combination is absolutely lethal,” said Rachel Peterson, Senior Transportation Planner with the Grand Junction Regional Transportation Planning Office. “When someone is high or drunk and then floors it, the outcome is almost always tragic.”
Officers on Patterson Road and Horizon Drive write hundreds of speeding tickets every month, yet the crashes keep coming. Last year, impairment-related wrecks claimed lives on North Avenue, 32 Road, and multiple stretches of I-70B.
Tara Flaharty: Colorado’s First Full-Time County Road Safety Boss
The brightest news in the report is also the newest.
Thanks to a federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant, Mesa County created a position that barely exists anywhere else in America: a full-time traffic safety program manager.
Tara Flaharty started the job in late 2024 and has already built the most detailed crash map the county has ever seen.
“Having someone whose only job is to stop people from dying on our roads is a game-changer,” Peterson told reporters. “Tara is mapping every fatal wreck since 2019, meeting with engineers weekly, and pushing projects that can save lives in months instead of years.”
Flaharty’s action plan has three clear goals:
- Cut dangerous driving behavior through education and enforcement
- Build a true culture of safety in Mesa County
- Make roads safer for people walking, biking, and riding motorcycles
The Deadliest Stretches You Drive Every Day
The task force named the corridors that keep claiming lives:
- Horizon Drive from I-70 to 24 Road: speeding, red-light runners, pedestrian deaths
- Patterson Road commercial corridor: left-turn crashes, drunk drivers
- North Avenue through downtown Grand Junction and Colorado Mesa University: bicycle and pedestrian strikes
- I-70 Business Loop through Clifton and Palisade: head-on collisions and rollovers
- 32 Road south of Patterson: high-speed rural crashes, no seat belts
Of the 23 people killed in 2024, twelve were not wearing seat belts and six were riding motorcycles.
Real Change Is Already Rolling Out
The task force is not just talking.
High-visibility DUI checkpoints are running monthly. Free bike-light distributions happen at every farmers market. New speed-feedback signs are going up on Horizon Drive this spring.
And mark your calendar: April 18, 2025, brings the first-ever Cycle Safety Fest at the Mesa County Fairgrounds. Free motorcycle safety checks, slow-riding courses, helmet fittings, and live demonstrations will run all day alongside the Crime Stoppers Car Show.
“I want every rider to leave that event knowing they have the skills and gear to make it home,” Flaharty said.
Twenty-three families didn’t get their loved ones back last year. Dozens more are still recovering from injuries that will last a lifetime.
Mesa County finally has the data, the leadership, and the plan to stop the bleeding. Whether our roads become safer in 2025 comes down to every single one of us behind the wheel.
Slow down. Drive sober. Buckle up. Look twice for bikes.
Our neighbors are counting on it.
What will it take for you to change the way you drive in Mesa County? Tell us in the comments, and share this story with #MesaSafeRoads so we can get everyone talking.
