LAWRENCE CO. – In just a few days, students will be headed back to school. Lawrence County Sheriff Greg Day is urging drivers to take precautions as school buses return to the roads.
“The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind all drivers that as the new school year begins, we will once again be sharing the roadways with buses full of our most precious commodity – our children,” said Sheriff Greg Day. “Please be extra vigilant when traveling during the morning and afternoon hours when school buses are on the roadway. Careless or reckless driving can result in catastrophic consequences.”
In Indiana, it’s against the law for motorists to pass a bus that’s stopped and has its red lights flashing and stop-arm extended.
This applies to all roads with one exception – motorists who are on a highway that is divided by a barrier – such as a cable barrier, concrete wall, or grassy median. In this instance, motorists are required to stop only if they are traveling in the same direction as the school bus.
“Remember that all vehicles, regardless of the direction of travel, must stop for a school bus with the stop arm extended and the red lights flashing on both two-lane roadways and multi-lane roadways that are not separated by a grass median, cable barrier, or concrete wall,” said Sheriff Day. “In essence, State Road 37 is the only roadway in Lawrence County where all traffic does not have to stop for a bus. On State Road 37, only vehicles traveling the same direction as the bus have to stop.”
Disregarding a school bus stop arm is a Class A infraction, which could result in a fine of up to $10,000 and a license suspension for up to 90 days on the first offense or up to a year in jail on the second offense.
According to the Schoolbus Fleet, in the 2021-22 school year, an estimated 489,748 yellow school buses provide transportation service daily in the United States. About 20.5 million elementary and secondary school children ride school buses to and from school each day.
School buses are the best option for transporting kids to school, safer than both walking or riding in a car.Â
“We take our partnerships with the local schools very seriously and will continue to make the safety of children one of our biggest priorities,” added Sheriff Day. ” You may see our officers conducting stop-arm violation patrols, or following up on reports from bus drivers of such violations. Instead of meeting one of our officers on the side of the road, let’s all work together to ensure the safety of our kids.”
School bus-related crashes killed 108 people nationwide in 2021, up 50% compared to the pandemic-related low number of 54 deaths in 2020, according to National Safety Council (NSC) tabulations of data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
A school bus-related crash is defined by NHTSA as any crash in which a vehicle, regardless of body design, used as a school bus is directly or indirectly involved. This includes incidents involving school children getting in or out of a vehicle.
From 2012 to 2021, about 70% of the deaths in school bus-related crashes were occupants of vehicles other than the school bus, and 16% were pedestrians. About 5% were school bus passengers, 5% were school bus drivers, and 3% were pedalcyclists.
Of the people injured in school bus-related crashes from 2012 to 2021, about 30% were school bus passengers, 9% were school bus drivers, and 53% were occupants of other vehicles. The remainder were pedestrians, pedalcyclists, and others.
