Cops Crack Down On Drivers Who Pass Stopped School Buses

Bristol Township police said there’s no reason drivers should not halt when school buses have their stop lights on and students are loading or unloading.

Officers took to the streets of the township as part of the 21st annual Operation Safe Stop program that took place across Pennsylvania. The program coincides with National School Bus Safety Week and aims to raise awareness on school bus safety.

Sgt. Chuck Burns, who heads up the traffic safety unit, said he doesn’t recall any local children being seriously injured by a driver passing a stopped school bus but said other local towns have had incidents. He added police often get complaints from residents, school officials and detailed reports from bus drivers, who fill out a form with key information.

“We attempt to ID the driver based on the information,” he said, adding tickets have been issued previously.

LevittownNow.com was able to ride along with Officer Josh Bausch as he kept watch for drivers violating Pennsylvania’s bus stopping laws on routes that left from Harry S. Truman High School, Franklin D. Roosevelt Middle School and Millcreek Elementary School.

Aside from the complaints provided, the district provided officers copies of bus schedules and a list of problem areas police should focus on, Burns explained.

According to state law, drivers are required to stop at least 10 feet from school buses that have their red lights activated and stop arm extended. Drivers behind, meeting or approaching the bus are required to stop on all roads that do not have a physical divider separating both directions of travel. PennDOT states drivers in opposing lanes of traffic that are separated by grassy medians, guide rails or concrete jersey barriers are able to keep traveling without stopping.

If drivers are found guilty, tickets for running a stopped bus will cost drivers their motoring privileges for six months, Burns said. The punishment is in addition to fees, fines and five points that will be put on a driver’s license.

Drivers followed the laws throughout the majority of the ride along, aside from a man who drove past a stopped bus letting students off along Veterans Highway (Route 413) in the opposing lanes of travel. Bausch turned his unmarked police car around and then pulled the Lincoln Town Car over about a mile up the road where a safe area for the driver to stop existed. The man cooperated with the officer and maintained he did not see the bus, Bausch told a reporter after writing a ticket.

Throughout the Wednesday enforcement effort, three tickets were written and officers interacted with a number of community members along bus routes.

The Kansas State Department of Education’s School Bus Safety Unit compiles an annual national report on deaths during school bus loading and unloading. In the 2015-2016 school year, four students were killed by drivers who ignored stopped school buses. Mississippi was the only state not to report information for the annual study.

The report stated that 46 years of data collection shows that 73 percent of student fatalities involve kids 9 years old or younger.

In December 2014, a 19-year-old man headed to morning classes at the Bucks County Technical High School blew through stopped bus zone and struck and killed 16-year-old Minete Zeka at the intersection of Bensalem Boulevard and Bridgewater Road in Bensalem. The crash was blamed on the man, who served time in jail, driving his 1984 Ford Bronco with the windshield covered in condensation.

For Bristol Township police, the traffic detail and school bus safety enforcement efforts are important to make sure Bristol Township families can avoid dealing with the pain of losing their child.