Motorists reminded of bus safety as students return to classroom
School buses became a rare sight in the past year, but with students headed back to school for in-person instruction, local officials are asking drivers to share the road safely.
Representatives from Chartiers Township police, the state Department of Transportation and AAA were at Allison Park Elementary Tuesday morning to offer a reminder on traffic laws related to school buses and how to stay out of bus drivers’ blind spots.
“With COVID, the kids were at home, and now it’s opening back up. So our concern is everything is new again,” said Chartiers police Lt. Steve Horvath.
Horvath said the penalty for driving through a bus’ stop sign is a $250 fine and points against your driver’s license. He added that violations often happen because drivers are running late for work.
“We’re hoping that people going to work maybe get up a little bit earlier,” Horvath said.
Jay Ofsanik, PennDOT’s acting press officer, said drivers should make themselves aware of school buses on their route for their daily commute, and also to be observant of buses that are about to stop.
“I always try to tell people, you know, this isn’t a surprise. If they’re looking down the roadway, and if they see a bus coming toward them, and if on the side of the road they see kids standing, that bus is going to be stopping,” Ofsanik said.
Ofsanik provided PennDOT statistics on school bus crashes from 2015 to 2019, excluding 2020 due to the lower volume of school bus traffic.
In 2019, there were 301 accidents involving school buses. Four people were killed, three of those being either the driver or a passenger of the other vehicles involved in the accidents.
Terri Rae Anthony, a AAA safety adviser, pointed to distracted driving as a common cause of accidents.
“If you take your eyes off the road for just two seconds, it doubles your chances to be in a crash,” Anthony said. “So when you’re around driving anywhere, you shouldn’t be distracted, but especially around these buses and these children in these school zones.”
According to Anthony, bus drivers’ most severe blind spots are directly in front of the bus, and toward the back of the passenger side.
Horvath said that the issue of safety does not rest solely on drivers, and parents should talk to their kids about being well-behaved when getting on or off the bus.
“That’s the complaints we have, is (drivers) are waiting, the bus driver is waiting, and then they’re messing around. That’s where kids get hurt,” Horvath said.