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School bus stop arm safety awareness campaign launched

| December 12, 2018 12:00 AM

BOISE — School buses and the stop arm law designed to protect students are the focus of a public safety campaign being promoted by the Idaho State Department of Education.

Idaho Superintendent of Instruction Sherri Ybarra urged drivers, in a news release, to take extra caution whenever they see a school bus with its lights on and stop arm extended.

State law says bus drivers should report stop arm violations to law enforcement and then local authorities will find the driver and issue a citation. More and more buses also are deploying cameras to capture violators and the license plate of the car that ignores the stop arm law. Idaho Code says that the owner of the car is responsible for the citation unless they can prove someone else was driving, in which case the other person is cited.

The fine for a violation of the stop arm law, which is designed to protect students getting on and off a bus, can run from $100 to $500 (Idaho Code §49-1422 and §49-1423) and includes adding four points on the violator’s driver’s license.

“It’s been a long time since driver’s training for some people, so they may have forgotten the rules,” said Derek Newland, director of student transportation for the State Department of Education.

On a road of three lanes or less (which could include a turning lane), vehicles in both directions must stop when a school bus displays its stop arm, he said. On a road greater than three lanes, only those vehicles going in the same direction as the bus must stop. Newland said bus routes are designed to prevent children having to cross multiple lanes of traffic to board a bus.

Last year, Newland surveyed the state’s school districts asking them for the number of stop arm violation reports they received for that month. A total of 48 districts responded, with more than 600 violations reported.

“Some people say bus drivers are just trying to entrap them” by sticking out the stop arm at the last minute, Newland said. But the yellow/amber warning lights come on 8 to 10 seconds before the bus stops and puts out its stop arm, he said. “That’s like a yellow light coming on at a traffic light. It tells you that it’s time to come to a stop.”

A study by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) showed that in a one-day national snapshot survey of more than 100,000 bus drivers in 2018, more than three out of every four of those drivers reported at least one stop arm violation that day.

“Any driver who passes a stopped school bus while students are getting on or off is gambling with children’s lives,” said Diana Hollander, NASDPTS president.