The act of illegally passing a stopped school bus with red lights flashing is commonly known as a “stop arm violation,î according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website. All 50 states have a law making it illegal to pass a school bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm extended that is stopped to load or unload students.The Kansas State Department of Education, along with the help of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, asks all states to provide data from one select day to the agency; KSDE then compiles it for the annual Kansas Illegal Passing Survey. According to ksde.org, the survey is done to raise awareness of the dangers involved in loading and unloading school children, to show the ongoing need for continued instruction to school bus drivers and students as well as to increase efforts to inform drivers across the country about the requirements of the school bus stop law.In the 2019 survey, 1,273 Colorado school bus drivers observed 575 illegal passes in one day. Thirty-nine states participated, reporting a total of 95,494 illegal passes in one day.In 2020, two school children were killed by a vehicle passing the school bus with the stop arm raised; one student crossing the street from behind the bus and the other in front of the bus. Those numbers have been as high as seven deaths in 2018. These statistics are cited in the 2020-2021 National School Bus Loading and Unloading Survey also conducted by ksde.org.Jack Pietraallo, El Paso County School District 49 transportation interim director, said the district averages about 30 motorists a month who illegally pass the stop arm. He said they estimate they are only reporting one-third of illegal passes for two reasons: No.1 ó the same car is running the arm, and they have already been reported; No. 2 ó the motorists who go around the special needs bus and take advantage of the bus driver helping one of the kids and not looking at the other driver. The drivers know there are several motorists who ignore the arm when they are outside the bus unloading the students, but there is nothing they can do about it because they are attending to the students and keeping them safe, he said.D 49 has about 100 school buses; all equipped with cameras. The school bus drivers push what is called a marker button on the camera when they observe the illegal activity, which can then be used to collect identifying information to issue a report to the police, Pietraallo said.Since the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, the El Paso County Sheriffís Office has been working with the district to identify the motorists, he said. The department reports to D 49 on a monthly basis on all the contacts made with the offenders from those reports, Pietraallo said.The transportation department has a two-page criteria and evaluation process to determine where the bus stops will be; plus, they personally go out and look at the site to ensure the safety of the stop, he said. They have more than 1,000 bus stop locations and make every attempt to avoid placing stops where students have to cross the street in front of the bus, but it does occasionally happen, Pietraallo said. All the special need stops are on the door side or curbside, he said.The drivers communicate closely with the students who do need to cross the street, Pietraallo said. The students are instructed to wait at the front of the bus, on the sidewalk, until the driver gives a hand motion that tells the students it is safe to cross the street, he said.Sometimes the students donít listen and the parents get a phone call from the school, Pietraallo said. ìEvery parent has been supportive of that phone call,î he said. ìThe motorists who have ignored the stop arm have also proven to be supportive of the law once they get a call from a deputy or officer.îThere have not been any accidents so far this year, Pietraallo said. ìBut with 30 motorists a month running our stop arms, this is a dangerous situation,î he said. ìItís a huge concern for our bus drivers.îPietraallo said the D 49 Board of Education also receives the monthly statistics. He said the board members then have an opportunity to make those statistics public, which is another avenue to get the word out to the community and hopefully bring awareness to the situation.ìThere used to be about only one paragraph in the Colorado driver handbook regarding school bus rules and safety, but now there are four pages with illustrations,î Pietraallo said. ìItís great that the state is trying to bring awareness to the learnerís level because stopping for those school buses is our biggest concern.î
