California Highway Patrol (CHP) hosted a school bus pedestrian safety operation on Aug. 29 in Santa Barbara County after a one-day California Department of Education survey of 137 state school districts found that more than 26,000 motorists failed to properly stop for school buses loading and unloading students.
In response to the survey and California Association of School Transportation Officials outreach, CHP agreed to initiate school bus pedestrian safety enforcement operations across the state, according to a CHP press release. The operations are part of a larger CHP effort to improve safety for all pedestrians across the state.
During the operations, which were carried out in Vandenberg Village and Mission Hills this month and will continue elsewhere, CHP officers ride as passengers on school buses while actively watching for motorists who fail to stop for a bus that’s unloading students. Drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses that have stop arms extended or flashing red lights will be cited or warned by CHP officers in nearby patrol cars, according to the release.
Drivers in either direction are required by law to stop when a school bus flashes red lights or extends its stop arm. Failure to stop could result in a $1,000 fine and a suspended license. Flashing yellow lights on school buses are a warning to other motorists to slow down and prepare to stop. Drivers on the opposite side of a divided or multilane highway do not need to stop for buses.
The project, according to the release, is designed to educate motorists, parents, and students of the importance of school bus pedestrian safety and is funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety.
This article appears in Aug 31 – Sep 7, 2017.
