The school year is just underway and the Sioux City School District is already seeing drivers illegally passing stopped school buses that are dropping off and picking up students.
School transportation director Doug Stewart says drivers need to remember the rules for a school buses. “If the yellow lights are flashing, you cannot pass from the rear of the bus. It’s a caution from the front. If the red lights are flashing, you cannot pass from either direction unless you’re on a four-lane road,” he says.
Stewart says all the buses in the district have cameras to catch those who blow by the bus. “So when the stop arm comes out, the camera is working. If we can catch your license plate, you will get a ticket from the Sioux City PD,” he says. “And then it’ll go to the city attorney and you’ll get a fine out of it.”
Stewart says it’s not an insignificant fine. “I believe it’s about a 360 dollar ticket for passing a stop school bus. Not small change by any means. If you’re a habitual violator, it can also affect your license as well. Send you to traffic court and bad driver classes,” he says.
Stewart says the consequences can be much worse for you and the kids if you don’t stop. “But you got to remember that the kids coming off the bus are five, six, seven years old sometimes and they don’t care when they get off the bus about traffic. They just get off and they’re running for their house. So our goal is to make sure the kids are safe and that nobody gets hurt,” Stewart says. Stewart says they’ve done some things to make the buses more visible to other motorists.
There were 85 drivers ticket in Sioux City last year for passing a stopped school bus, and a vast majority of them had to pay a fine.
(By Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)