By Sarah Hall

Editor

It’s against the law to pass a stopped school bus — but some drivers seem to forget that.

According to Liverpool Central School District Transportation Director Laura D’Arcangelis, on a recent school day, bus drivers reported some 90 vehicles passed their buses while their red lights were flashing.

“When the bus is stopped with the red lights on, that means children are either boarding or getting off of the bus, so the red lights mean there are pedestrians,” D’Arcangelis said. “If you’re going to pass that bus, you’re running the risk of hitting a pedestrian.”

For drivers, it is important to 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.

D’Arcangelis said the number of vehicles passing stopped school buses has increased dramatically over the last few years.

“I think it’s just distracted driving. I think that people aren’t paying attention, and at the last minute they’re halfway past the bus, and they realize it,” she said. “That’s part of it, but I also think that a lot of it is everyone’s in a hurry and they think, ‘Well, you know, they just turned on the reds and I’m almost to the bus, so if I just hurry up then I’ll be okay.’”

D’Arcangelis said people will often try to justify passing a school bus, but passing one is still breaking the law.

“A stop sign is a stop sign,” she said. “Whether it’s on the bus or it’s on the side of the road, it still means stop. I’m not sure where the misunderstanding comes from. I think they try to justify it, and it’s not acceptable, and it’s not safe. It could kill one of our children.”

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. However, that means that a police officer must be present to see the driver pass the school bus. If one is not present, Liverpool’s bus drivers do still take action.

“What we do is we try to have the drivers take note of the license plate, then we report it to DMV in Albany, and then that generates a letter from Albany to the registrant of that vehicle and it states the place, the date, the time, all the information, and then it tells them what the consequences could be,” D’Arcangelis said. “A ticket can’t be issued from that, but we hope that by DMV sending out that letter it might get their attention so that they do take it seriously and they don’t do it the next time.”

The Liverpool transportation department, among others, is lobbying Congress to pass legislation that will allow tickets to be issued based on footage from cameras attached to the stop arm attached to the bus.

“Tickets can be issued from that, so a police officer doesn’t have to actually witness it. The camera footage would be sufficient evidence to issue a ticket,” D’Arcangelis said. “That’s huge right there, because a cop can’t be at every bus stop every day, so if we could get that legislation passed, I think that would go a long way to deter passing on red.”

D’Arcangelis said people need to be more aware of the rules surrounding bus safety as well as their surroundings when driving in general.

“If they have it as a focus and a priority for themselves, and they understand what’s at stake, I think that is what is going to change the behavior,” she said. “If they just would look at it from the perspective of, ‘If it were my child,’ they would never dream of doing something intentional that could cause harm to their own child, and those children deserve that same consideration even if it’s not their own. It’s a matter of life and death.”