Drivers Reminded To Stop For Stopped School Buses

On April 17, participating school bus drivers across Arkansas counted 589 drivers illegally passing from the front or the rear while the bus was stopped and the red lights were flashing. Eleven of them passed on the right side where the door was located.

All of those motorists were not simply committing a traffic offense. Illegally passing a school bus is a misdemeanor punishable by jail time, and if a student is killed, it’s negligent homicide.

To educate motorists, the state Department of Education is leading a “Flashing Red. Kids Ahead.” campaign that started Aug. 12 and will end Aug. 30.

Mike Simmons, senior transportation manager for the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation, said the campaign has bought radio ads on Clear Channel stations. Bryant-based Everett Buick-GMC has donated television spots and purchased t-shirts.

School bus drivers are trained to activate amber lights on their school buses at least 300 feet before they stop as a warning to motorists, and then the lights automatically turn red when the driver stops the bus and opens the door. Motorists approaching the bus from either side must stop until the red lights are turned off.

In 2005, the Legislature toughened penalties for illegally passing a stopped school bus with the passage of Isaac’s Law. Bryant elementary student Isaac Brian had been killed the previous year after disembarking from his bus.

The law states that anyone passing a school bus whose lights are flashing is guilty of a misdemeanor. The penalties are stiff: potential jail time of 90 days, a suspended driver’s license of 21 days to a year, fines of between $250 and $1,000, and up to 400 hours of community service. The law also made it illegal for school districts to establish a bus stop requiring a student to cross anything wider than a three-lane highway.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult for bus drivers to take care of students’ needs and record a license plate when a car zooms past, and lawbreakers are rarely prosecuted. Simmons said that some prosecutors, such as Saline County’s Ken Casady, make it a priority, and some don’t. The State Police have stationed troopers on buses with another waiting to stop passing motorists. A few years ago, the legislature appropriated money as a trial effort to purchase about 60-65 cameras that were installed on school buses to record license plates. Simmons said the cameras are effective.

According to Simmons, “It’s become almost cliche that school buses are the safest form of transportation for students, which they are.” Almost 7,000 Arkansas school buses transport roughly 260,000 students across 250,000 miles each day. The last fatality occurred in 2007, when a pedestrian student in Watson Chapel was hit by a driver. In 2002, the National Academy of Sciences and other research organizations reported that about 800 school-age children are killed every year in motor vehicle crashes during normal school travel hours, but only about 20 of those deaths, or two percent, are school bus-related. Fifteen of the deaths occur while students are pedestrians.

The campaign has a list of school bus safety tips for parents that can be viewed here.

Simmons couldn’t point to any changes in driver behavior during the 13 years he has been in his position, but some numbers stood out from the national survey. Drivers in Arkansas were more likely to illegally pass a school bus in the afternoon (367) than the morning (220), with the other two passings occurring at midday. Drivers were much more likely to pass from the front (445) than from behind (144).

Simmons said passings sometimes involve multiple cars.

“Honestly, part of it is just our society today is not willing to wait,” he said. “I mean, you see people just busting it to get past a school bus because they know once you get behind that school bus, it’s going to be stopping.”