Passing a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm out is a misdemeanor that comes with a $500 fine and points assessed against the driver’s license.
It can come with an even greater penalty – death of a pedestrian – if drivers aren’t paying attention.
Milford Public Schools is seeing a growing number of drivers go right through bus stop arms and drive around the bus, or toward the bus in the opposite lane, while students are getting on or off on public roadways.
The Milford school board is discussing a way to change that.
“Our bus drivers do a great job of being prepared for drive throughs, but we need to do something to eliminate them,” MPS Superintendent Kevin Wingard said.
North Carolina-based company Bus Safety Solutions estimates 20 million school bus stop arm violations occur each year.
All of MPS’ buses are equipped with cameras, and drivers caught on tape illegally passing a bus are reported to law enforcement.
Wingard said the district experimented with stop arm extensions a few years ago, and they worked well.
However, the company that sold the custom extensions no longer sells them, and all of Milford’s buses that had them are no longer in the district’s fleet.
Bus Safety Solutions could fill the need with its own version of extensions.
The company produces a steel frame that attaches to the bus. On the frame is an additional stop sign with flashing red lights that extends 6.5 feet into the oncoming lane of traffic.
“Our arms statistically stop these violations by 90% or more in real world pilot programs from multiple school districts,” the company’s website said.
The extensions are compatible with most bus models.
“They are a relatively new company but have a growing business and have a couple of states that they are working with to make these extended arms required on new buses,” Wingard said. “We will be their first school in Nebraska.”
