Police to aid schools in bus safety program
WAYNESBURG – With 1.5 million-plus school buses transporting Pennsylvania students to and from school each day, the state Department of Transportation takes school bus safety seriously.
Each October, PennDOT, along with state and municipal law enforcement agencies, takes part in National School Bus Safety week and its corresponding program, Operation Safe Stop.
Next week is 2014 safety week with Wednesday designated as the date for the Operation Safe Stop program.
“The program entails educating drivers that passing a stopped school bus with students loading or unloading is dangerous and illegal,” said Waynesburg Borough Police Chief Rob Toth, whose department will be one of the local law enforcement agencies participating in Greene County.
Toth said his department, in cooperation with Central Greene School District, will be taking a look at ways his officers can help Margaret Bell Miller Middle School with transportation safety.
MBM is the only school within the jurisdiction of the Waynesburg Borough police department.
This will mark the 18th year Operation Safe Stop was conducted in the state. Each year, school bus drivers have aided in the program by documenting any illegal passes by motorists on their routes during the day.
Drivers are provided with a log sheet to list identifying information about the vehicle, its driver and the time and location where the violation occurred for law enforcement.
Passing a stopped school bus, or driving over the posted 15 mph speed limit in a school zone, is not taken lightly by the department of transportation.
These offenses include fines and points to one’s driving record.
Passing a stopped bus also results in an automatic 60-day driver’s license suspension.
There were 1,951 school bus accidents in Pennsylvania in the last five years, according to PennDOT. Twenty-five students were injured as they were walking to or from the school bus during that time period and one child died.
“Kids should be safe riding the bus to school. Even one school bus accident is unacceptable, especially when it is the result of someone breaking the law,” Toth said.