JEFFERSON CO., Pa. (EYT) – Issues surrounding school bus safety have come to the forefront of a national conversation following a series of fatal incidents that have recently occurred.
It began on Tuesday, October 30, when three children were killed and another injured while crossing the street to their bus stop in rural Indiana. The following day a child was struck and killed in rural Mississippi as he crossed the road to board his school bus, while a second child was hit and injured while crossing the roadway to a bus stop in Florida.
On Thursday, November 1, a seven-year-old boy was found dead on the side of the road after being run over while waiting for his bus in central Pennsylvania. Another five children and two adults were injured after a car struck them at a school bus stop in Tampa, Florida, on the same day.
While these incidents are both tragic and shocking, unfortunately, they are becoming all too common.
During this year’s Operation Safe Stop – an annual school bus enforcement and education initiative that was held on October 24 – participating school districts and law enforcement agencies reported 147 violations of the law, an increase from the 120 reported last year. Convictions for breaking the School Bus Stopping Law also increased from 730 in 2016 to 747 in 2017.
These disturbing increases have both law enforcement and school officials looking for ways to increase school bus safety as well as awareness of the laws for sharing the road with school buses.
Trooper Ronald Chewning, Community Services Officer for Pennsylvania State Police Troop C, told exploreJeffersonPA.com, “We have a ‘Follow the Bus’ type of program to try to crack down on people passing buses with their red light on, because that has been occurring more frequently.”
“Everybody should know that mornings and afternoons are school bus times and people need to put their phones down and pay attention to the roads because there are kids out there. We need to all make a conscious effort to slow down and pay attention around school buses.”
The state police aren’t the only law enforcement agencies watching out for student safety.
Brookville Borough Police Chief Vince Markle said that the borough police are always on the lookout for drivers who violate the School Bus Stopping Law.
“We have seen an increase in people running the bus lights. We’ve had several of those this year,” said Chief Markle.
According to PennDOT, Pennsylvania’s School Bus Stopping Law requires motorists to stop at least 10 feet away from school buses that have their red lights flashing and stop arm extended. Motorists must stop when they are behind the bus, meeting the bus or approaching an intersection where a bus is stopped. Motorists following or traveling alongside a school bus must also stop until the red lights have stopped flashing, the stop arm is withdrawn, and all children have reached safety. If physical barriers such as grassy medians, guide rails or concrete median barriers separate oncoming traffic from the bus, motorists in the opposing lanes may proceed without stopping.
The penalties for disobeying the law are a $250 fine, five points on your driving record, and a 60-day license suspension.
While the penalties for drivers who break the law are severe, the problem seems to be persistent, and local school districts are also focusing on the things they can do to help keep students safe.
Mr. Dan Hawkins, Superintendent at Brockway Area School District, said that the administration at Brockway keeps open communication with their bus drivers and immediately reports any incidents to local authorities. He believes that with the support of the community, they can stay on top of any possible problem spots.
“I just think that as a community, we need to be aware of situations out there, and if anything appears to be a problem, people should contact the schools and the authorities to make us aware so we can investigate,” Hawkins said.
He also noted that the district is looking into two possible equipment investments for the future: exterior cameras for the buses and radio equipment for the buses to stay in direct contact with the school.
“These are just things we’re considering moving forward with in the future.”
Exterior cameras are one of the new additions at another local school.
According to John Lesjack, Director of Transportation for Brookville Area School District, the bus fleet provided by their new contractor this year is outfitted with thee point cameras.
“Now we can get identifying information to the police if someone passes a stopped bus,” Lesjack said.
“It gives a whole report on how fast the vehicle was moving and where the bus was located as well as the camera images. It’s pretty snazzy.”
Cameras have become a topic of discussion at another local school district, as well, after the wider conversation about school bus safety recently took a personal turn for one area parent.
Falls Creek resident Kristy Baughman is spearheading an effort to get exterior cameras on buses in the DuBois Area School District after her daughter had a close call with a speeding car passing her bus at the bus stop.
“The bus was stopped with the lights on and the stop sign out and the kids were just starting to walk in front of the bus to cross when a car went flying through,” said Baughman.
Baughman noted that the stretch of 3rd Street/State Route 950 (commonly known as the Falls Creek Reynoldsville Road) where her daughter gets on and off of the bus has had problems with people speeding for years.
“It’s been getting really bad, though, and with all of the other incidents of kids getting hit and the close call we had, I’m afraid of what could happen.”
Baughman said she has spoken to the police about the issue, and they have sent troopers to the area. She added that although people slow down when they see the police vehicle, they speed through anytime the police aren’t visibly monitoring the area, and they can’t be there every day.
Baughman was told by a state police representative that without video footage, it can be hard to get a conviction. As a result, this spurred her to contact Randy Schmidt, Director of Transportation for DuBois Area School District.
When Baughman learned that money for exterior cameras “weren’t in the budget” right now, she created a petition through change.org.
“I look at some of the things they do spend money on and tend to think this is just way more important, and a lot of the other parents I’ve spoken to feel the same way, so I decided to start a petition.”
Baughman plans to present the petition to the school board at their December meeting.
“Some parents have even suggested that if the district won’t pay for it, we could raise the money through GoFundMe and pay for it that way. I haven’t spoken to anyone at the district about that yet, but I’m going to talk to the transportation supervisor about the estimated cost before the school board meeting.”
Baughman’s petition, which can be viewed here, currently has 441 signatures.
“All of the parents and community members I’ve spoken to about it are all for it.”
DuBois Area School District Superintendent Dr. Luke J. Lansberry says he has been in contact with their busing contractors since learning about Baughman’s concerns, asking about the possible problem with drivers in her neighborhood.
“We’re still assessing and gathering information at this point,” Lansberry said.
“I hadn’t had any reports to me about any issues like this in the area before. I was kind of surprised by it. It’s too early to say where we might go from here until we see if there’s a problem.”
According to Schmidt, the current camera system on the buses utilized by the school, which only monitor the interior of the buses, is at least five or six years old, and he has been researching what it would cost to outfit the buses with new systems that include an exterior camera.
Schmidt noted that cost isn’t the only concern with exterior cameras, though.
“When we got the system we have, there was some skepticism about how exterior cameras would do in our winter weather.”
While cameras can help with enforcement efforts, whether or not more stringent enforcement will lead to fewer accidents is another question.
Chief Markle has a word of advice for drivers.
“The thing I’d like to tell people is that running school bus lights or stop signs or even exceeding the speed limit doesn’t get you there quicker. We all need to just leave a little earlier, give ourselves more time, and slow down.”
“Everyone’s in a rush to get nowhere. Everybody just flies around, and it’s not that important. I would ask everyone to slow down, leave earlier, give yourself time, slow down, and don’t stress over traffic.”
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