As students head back to the classroom this week, the Elkhart Police Department is reminding drivers to be on the lookout for school buses in the community-because they’ll be looking for motorists that don’t comply with the bus stop-arm laws.
Although school buses are one of the safest modes of transportation, injuries and fatalities do occur outside of or near the buses. Most often, these tragedies occur because a motorist has failed to slow down and obey the bus’s stop sign, or to follow local traffic laws.
Drivers should slow down and prepare to stop when the overhead lights on a school bus are flashing yellow. Once the lights turn red and the stop arm extends, drivers are required to stop on all roads with only one exception. On highways divided by a physical barrier, such as a concrete wall or grassy median, only vehicles traveling in the same direction as the school bus are required to stop in these circumstances.
In April, thousands of bus drivers who participated in a one-day observational survey counted 1,574 stop-arm violations in Indiana. Projected across a 180-day school year, this survey data points to a potential 283,320 violations throughout the school year.
The data comes from the NASDPTS annual survey, which is managed by the Indiana Department of Education for the state of Indiana. This year, data collection took place on April 23, with 4,910 bus drivers participating.
“When a school bus’s red lights are flashing and the stop-arm is extended, drivers must slow down and come to a complete stop,” said EPD Chief Dan Milanese. “This is not a suggestion – it’s the law. It takes all of us paying attention to make sure our children safely arrive at school and safely return home.”
The school bus loading and unloading area is called the “Danger Zone.” Specifically, this is any side of the bus where the bus driver can’t see the child and, therefore, the child is in the most danger. These areas include:
· 10 feet in front of the bus, where the driver may be sitting too high to see a child
· 10 feet on either side of the bus, where a child may be in the driver’s blind spots
· Behind the school bus
For more information about school bus stop safety, please visit https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/school-bus-safety#the-topic-bus-stop-safety.
