CHARLESTON, W.Va. –Local and national officials are urging drivers to slow down and stay alert for school buses in their communities.
National School Bus Safety Week begins Monday, Oct. 20, and runs through Saturday, Oct. 24. The West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program is teaming up with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for this effort.
While school buses are considered the safest mode of transportation, injuries and fatalities do still occur. According to the GHSP news release, from 2014 to 2023, 171 pedestrians were killed in school-bus-related traffic crashes.
“Seventy-nine school-age children—those 18 and younger—died while getting off a school bus. From 2000 to 2023, there were 61 fatalities involving drivers who illegally passed a stopped school bus, averaging 2.5 fatalities per year.
“When a school buses red lights are flashing and the stop-arm extended, drivers have a legal responsibility to slow down and come to a complete stop,” GHSP Director Jack McNeely said. “This is not a suggestion– it’s the law. In fact, yellow flashing lights indicate the bus is preparing to stop to load or unload children,”
“This when motorists should begin to slow down and prepare to stop their vehicles. Motorists may begin moving only when the red flashing lights are turned-off, the stop-arm is withdrawn, and the bus begins to move,” he continued. “School bus riders and their caretakers are relying on drivers to follow the law to keep them safe.”
Major Justin Raynes of the Nitro Police Department said motorists need to be patient with school buses, especially when they are picking up or dropping off children.
“If you’re even in the proximity of a bus it’s very important to be very mindful that that bus is going to most likely make frequent stops, most likely there’s going to be kids, whether it’s crossing the side of the road you’re on or the opposite side of the road,” Raynes said.
They encourage all motorists to be aware of the ‘danger zone’—any area around the bus where the driver cannot see a child, making those spots the most dangerous for children.
There are three areas referred to as the “danger zone” including:
10 feet in front of the bus, where the driver may be sitting to high to see a child
10 feet on either side of the bus, where a child may be in the driver’s blind spots
Behind the bus
Raynes said he understands that some people leave the house in a hurry; however, he encouraged motorists to consider the consequences of that decision, especially if they choose to illegally pass a school bus.
“You have to look at the adverse of that decision is if you’re really in a big hurry, and say you push the issue, and you do pass the school bus because you’re like maybe I can beat that stop sign or well the sign isn’t all the way out or whatever the case may be, the other end of that decision is that you could strike a child and potentially injure or kill that child,” he said.
Raynes said the consequences of passing a stopped school bus can vary, but in many cases, motorists can be arrested on the spot.
“Whenever you are stopped for passing a school bus that’s actually what we call a forthwith offense, which means you can be arrested on the spot for it, it’s not just a citation, I mean it can be, but there are several people who get arrested forthwith for passing school bus,” he said.