BOISE, Idaho — School bus drivers in Boise have been seeing an alarming trend putting students in danger.
Durham School Services transports about 6000 students at the Boise School District. Their drivers have reported almost 470 school bus stop arm violations so far this school year.
Their school bus drivers see at least 10 violations per day. They expect the number of violations this year to well exceed last year's record of 500.
"We have cameras on all our buses, and we really want ... these egregious issues, we want them to stop," Gary Hendrickson, safety and training manager for Durham School Services said. "Because sooner or later somebody's going to get hurt."
A stop arm violation happens when a driver illegally passes a bus that's stopped with it's STOP sign extended and red lights flashing. Hendrickson says busses have been seeing an uptick in drivers blowing past stopped school busses.
"Our bus drivers have kind of taken it personal. Because these are their kids, and they know them day-in and day-out. Some drivers have seen them come up from kindergarten to high school. So we take it very personally," Hendrickson said. "And when we start seeing our children being guided across the road by a driver and a car runs the stop arm - that's an issue. And we do take it personally."
All Durham busses have stop arm video cameras to catch reckless drivers. They're send footage to police, who follow up on reports.
"We do notice that a lot of these violations involve people that are distracted. In some videos you can actually see them looking down - like if they're looking at a phone or looking at something else in the car," Matthew Konvalinka, Boise Police motor sergeant said. "We just ask people to please pay attention around school buses. They're unpredictable, they make frequent stops...So we just ask people please be careful around school buses. I understand it gets frustrating when they stop quite often, but please give them the space that they deserve."
Sgt. Konvalinka says police have noticed that many of the license plates on cars caught illegally passing school busses are from out of state.
"We're trying to educate more especially out-of-state drivers that they can't pass the school bus when it's stopped with the arm extended. Even though that is a law in some variation in all 50 states," Sgt. Konvalinka said.
In Idaho, if there are three or less lanes, traffic in both directions must stop for a school bus.
If there are four or more lanes, with a divider, only traffic following the bus must stop.
Under Idaho code, a stop arm violation is considered a misdemeanor. It is punishable by up to a $200 fine for the first offense, up to $400 for the second, and up to $600 for the third.
Hendrickson says law enforcement has been able to issue citations to about 60% of drivers who commit stop arm violations.
"Just the convictions that maybe we've received are worth it to me, because last year 60%. I know they're inconvenienced, I know people are busy," Hendrickson said. "But when you're out on the street, dealing with the future of our country, we can't take that for granted."
February is Love the Bus Month, an initiative by the American School Bus Council to show appreciation for school bus drivers and highlight the impact that school busses have on communities by safely getting students to and from school.
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