We have blogged about this topic before and it seems we will likely do so again. Despite more enhanced media attention to this important issue, drivers are still violating school bus passing laws with alarming frequency.
After a group of children was struck and killed earlier this year in Indiana by a driver who ignored the school bus’ red lights and stop paddle, the issue of drivers failing to adhere to laws designed to protect children using school buses has made headlines.
KIRO7 did a story on the issue where they cite the statistic that 1,750 cars illegally pass stopped buses in Washington every day. The national average is that 78,239 drivers illegally drive past stopped school buses each school day of the year. Given these numbers, it is amazing that even more disastrous collisions with children haven’t occurred.
When buses are pulled over with red lights flashing and the stop paddle out, all cars on both sides of any street that is under 4 lanes must stop. If the roadway has 4 or more lanes of travel, then the traffic going in the opposite direction is not required to stop, but traffic coming from behind the bus must always stop.
The KIRO7 news story referenced above can be found here.
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