This week is National School Bus Safety Week, and PennDOT held its annual Operation Safe Stop event Wednesday.
The day is focused on bringing awareness to the dangers of passing school buses while children are getting on or off a school bus.
For many, riding the bus was a formative part of their childhood experience. But statistics indicate that many people all too often forget to think about school buses on the road.
More than 700 drivers are convicted in Pennsylvania annually for passing a stopped school bus with its lights flashing, according to PennDOT.
The penalties for violating school bus stopping laws are steep and include a 60-day driver’s license suspension, five points on the driver’s record and a $250 fine.
School buses have more safety regulations than any other vehicle, so the main danger for children is getting on and off the bus.
In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says “fewer than 1% of all traffic fatalities involve children on school transportation vehicles. However, children are more at risk when approaching or leaving a school bus.”
Routes for Keystone Transit Group cover ground all over the area, and Chittester said he has 160 students on his morning bus roster and well over 100 on his afternoon run.
In a measure of extended caution, bus companies and school districts often end up re-routing buses to try and prevent the necessity of children crossing a street as much as possible.
“We actually had to change a route recently after a parent nearly got hit by a car blowing past the bus,” Chittester said. “Now the route goes the long way around so it can pick the kids up from the other side of the road.”
Chittester said he doesn’t believe people usually intentionally break the law.
“Sometimes the sun might be in people’s eyes, or they aren’t paying attention,” he said.
Chittester also said a lot of drivers simply may not know the laws surrounding school buses.
Pennsylvania law says that when drivers see a stopped school bus with red signal lights flashing and its stop arm extended, they are mandated to stop, including at an intersection.
PennDOT says drivers should stop at least 10 feet away from buses and wait until the red lights have stopped and the stop sign has folded back in before moving.
