LIMA — Motorists who in past years have tempted fate, and arrest, by passing a stopped school bus should be aware that technology is their new worst enemy.
As students in area school districts prepare to return to their classrooms for the start of a new school year over the next few weeks, the safety of those students is a top concern for administrators. For many students, their day starts and ends by riding a school bus. And there are dangers to buses and their occupants lurking around every corner, mostly in the form of inattentive or overly aggressive drivers, say area school and law enforcement officials.
According to statistics from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, between 2014 and 2016 a total of 4,160 drivers statewide were convicted of failing to stop for a school bus that was loading or dropping off passengers. With buses return to the area roadways later this month, a spokesman for the Lima post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol issued a few reminders for local motorists.
As part of the patrol’s August School Bus Safety Month efforts, Lt. David Brown, commander of the Lima post, reminds motorists that state law requires that drivers stop at least 10 feet in front of or behind a school bus when flashing lights and an extended arm are displayed. Drivers also must not resume driving until the school bus begins moving, Brown said.
“Safety on the roadway is a shared responsibility,” he said. “Motorists should always exercise caution while children are exiting and boarding a bus. He urged motorists to plan ahead and allow extra time for these school bus stops.
Cameras On Lima City Buses
Randall Crossley, transportation director for Lima City School District, said an alarming number of motorists have been observed passing stopped school buses, presenting an ongoing safety issue for district officials.
He said the addition of new technology on school buses hopefully will curb the number of such incidents. Crossley said the district’s 16 route buses are being equipped with “stop sign” cameras intended to detect and record images of drivers who fail to stop for a school bus with its warning lights in full operation. Those images are then forwarded to law enforcement agencies and often end with the arrest of the violator.
“There were so many drivers getting away with [passing buses illegally] that we have invested in it” by adding the cameras on buses, Crossley said. “Our biggest [safety] problem has been people blowing past our buses that have their red lights on. It’s scary stuff.”
Ottawa-Glandorf
In addition to his duties as superintendent of Ottawa-Glandorf Local School District, Don Horstman also serves as the district’s transportation supervisor. As students, teachers and administrators alike prepare for the beginning of a new school year, Horstman said technological changes being implemented by the district should ultimately result in increased safety on the roadways.
Horstman said motorists who pass stopped school buses present by far the greatest safety hazard for students and bus drivers alike. He said the school district’s implementation of “stop arm cameras” on buses should help reduce the number of such incidents, especially after word gets out in the community that some buses area equipped with the new technology designed to catch law-breakers.
Four O-G buses are expected to be equipped with the camera by year’s end, the superintendent said, and going forward all new buses ordered by the school district will come equipped with the stop-arm cameras.
Horstman said the district operates 19 regular bus routes. Some routes are wholly rural, others are completely within the Ottawa corporation limits. Some routes are a mixture of rural and municipal areas. And it’s the in-town bus routes where the greatest number of instances of drivers passing stopped buses has occurred, he said.
To address the situation, Horstman said the district is looking to revamp bus stops in certain neighborhoods of Ottawa.
“We’re looking at more neighborhood stops” as opposed to stopping at each individual residence, Horstman said. “We believe this could prevent drivers from trying to ‘beat the light’ and stop them from attempting to pass school buses in between stops.”
In the meantime, the school district has joined forces with the Ottawa Police Department and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office to apprehend drivers who threaten the safety of students. Horstman said officers from both law enforcement agencies occasionally ride school buses “where we have problems” in an effort to arrest violators. He said the number of arrests has increased thanks to the bus cameras and police presence, “although what the conviction rate is, I couldn’t say.”
But Horstman gushed with praise for the school district’s law enforcement partners.
“I can’t thank the police and Sheriff’s Office enough for all they’ve done for us” to make the streets and roads of the O-G school district safer for students, the superintendent said. “They’ve been wonderful to work with.”
Waynesfield-Goshen
Despite being a large, predominately rural school district that encompasses some 63 square miles of eastern Auglaize County, bus drivers for Waynesfield-Goshen Local School District have been involved in relatively few traffic mishaps in the past few years.
Deb Ulrey, supervisor of transportation for W-G schools, said each of the district’s seven regular bus routes average between 25 and 30 miles. She said there have been few traffic incidents involving the district’s school buses in recent years, and those that have been investigated were little more than the “fender bender” variety.
But while Waynesfield-Goshen bus drivers have maintained an excellent safety record, Ulrey said she is dumbfounded by the number of drivers who pass stopped school buses.
“It happens all the time; I’d say it happens a couple of times each week,” Ulrey said. “I’d like to think people who pass a stopped bus don’t do it deliberately, but are just in ‘daydream mode.’”
While U.S. 33, a major thoroughfare, is part of the W-G school district, Ulrey said the greatest number of incidents involving drivers passing a stopped school bus seem to take place on state Route 196.
Classes at Waynesfield-Goshen start for the year Thursday, and Ulrey said safety on the roadways is always a concern.
“We try to communicate this time of year for people to be aware of buses on the road and to remind them that they are supposed to stop” for buses loading and unloading children, she said.
Statistics
According to statistics provided by the state patrol, the number motor vehicle crashes involving school buses during the years 2013-2015 totaled 33 in Allen County. Those numbers were down substantially in surrounding counties, with 12 such crashes reported in Auglaize, five in Putnam, four in Hardin and nine in Van Wert during that same period.
According to the patrol’s statistics, more than 3,800 traffic crashes involving school buses were reported statewide during that time frame. Although no fatal crashes involving school buses happened in 2015, there were nine such crashes in 2013-14. None of the 12 people killed in those crashes were on a school bus.
Franklin County led the state with 689 reported school bus crash reports filed during the three-year period, according to the state’s report.
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