A new survey released last week shows that stopped school busses are illegally passed by other cars an estimated 40,000 times per day in New York state — an alarming, and increasing, number that directly endangers the safety of schoolchildren, according to the New York Association for Pupil Transportation.
In Cazenovia, cars illegally pass stopped school busses at least once every day, and the NYAPT study should be a wake-up call to local drivers, said Karen Cowherd, Cazenovia CSD transportation supervisor.
“So many people have their heads down, texting, looking at cell phones, reading newspapers, shaving, all kinds of stuff we see … It truly happens here on a daily basis. It may be only one vehicle, but it is one too many,” Cowherd said. “It’s really becoming a serious problem and we need to get the message out there.”
The NYAPT survey, taken Nov. 20 to measure the incidence of motorists illegally passing stopped school buses, showed that in the 32 school districts that participated in the survey that day, 1,086 school bus drivers reported they were passed a total of 883 times, including 32 passes on the passenger (or right) side of the school bus.
At that rate of passing, when applied to over 50,000 school buses in New York state, the total estimated illegal passing rate is 40,654 passes for that day. That same calculation would mean that, of that amount, 1,479 motorists would have passed school buses on the right side of the bus that day.
This compares with the October 2016 “Count Day” on which NYAPT estimated that 37,023 motorists passed stopped school buses, including 1,078 “right side” passes.
During the 2015-16 school year, NYAPT conducted a similar “Count Day” program and averaged 29,533 illegal passes per day, including a high of 36,857 in May 2016.
“We really are concerned about these levels of illegal passing,” said Lori Ann Savino, president of the New York Association for Pupil Transportation, the group that did the survey. “Knowing that 40,000 or more motorists disregarded the law and showed a disregard for the lives of our children is frightening and frustrating to us as school bus safety professionals. We do everything we can to ensure the safety of our children. All we ask motorists to do is stop for the bus when those red lights are flashing.”
According to the Madison County Sheriff Allen Riley, drivers must remember that flashing yellow lights signal the bus is about to stop, and that drivers should slow down and prepare to stop as well. Once the bus has stopped and its red lights are flashing, drivers must stop from either direction, even on divided highways, because the bus is either picking up or dropping off riders. Drivers can proceed only when the red lights are turned off and the bus is moving again.
Under New York state law, if someone is caught and ticketed by a law enforcement officer illegally passing a stopped school bus, he or she will be fined $250 to $400, receive five points on his or her license and/or possibly spend 30 days in jail on the first conviction. The third or subsequent convictions (within three years) increases to a $750 to $1,000 fine, five points on your license and up to 180 days in jail.
The most frequent roads along which Cazenovia school busses get passed by other motorists are on routes 20 and 92 outside of the village, which are the most heavily traveled, Cowherd said, and the district works closely with the New York State Police and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office to act on any instances.
Cazenovia bus drivers focus their attention on the safety of their passengers if a car passes them while loading or unloading, but drivers do pass on as much information as possible about the offender to Cowherd, she said. “Quite often, we can get a ticket written on it,” she said.
“Every time [the NYAPT] does a count it rises. So to me the message isn’t getting out there to people,” Cowherd said. “What I would like to promote is that people are educated and more conscious of where they’re driving, the time they’re driving, what’s going on around them and keeping our kids safe.”
