What Everyone Needs to Know About School Bus Stop Safety - School is indeed In, we all need to mentally shift into student safety gear and remember the rules of the road on Bus Stop laws and safety. Our children are our most important national treasure, therefore we all have a duty to look out for them and ensure they get to and home safely from school. School bus travel is one of the safest transportation services on the roads considering the millions of miles traveled and number of children transported. Lake Orion Schools have amazing and dedicated Bus Drivers and transportation staff who are committed to student safety, but they need our help, please take a moment to know and follow these traffic laws and bus stop rules; Bus Stop Safety for Motorists - Michigan law allows for 2 basic types of Bus Stops. To help drivers understand your responsibility, LO Bus Drivers designed their own informative poster and slogan to help. “Lights Up on Top – Prepare to Stop…. Lights Down Low – Go by Slow” 1. Red Light Stops - Full Stop : • When amber lights flash on top prepare to stop – when they turn to red, you must stop at least 20 feet from the bus. • The Bus will stay on the roadway • Students may be crossing the road • Traffic in both directions and all lanes must stop – other than on a divided highway, which means a permanent barrier between lanes or a non-traffic area median (a center turn lane is NOT a divided highway) 2. Hazard Light Stops – Pass By Slowly : • Only the Lower Yellow Hazard lights will flash • The bus will be positioned off the roadway (on the shoulder) • Traffic may carefully and slowly pass the bus • Students DO NOT cross the roadway at stops where this is used. Motorists are required to know your duties and responsibilities, there are stiff fines and points attached to bus stop and crossing guard violations. Let’s face it, a school bus can’t be any bigger, brighter or have more flashy blinky lights than they already have…Parents with new drivers, please take the time to educate your new driver on school bus stop laws and safety. Please know these facts (want more info. google MCL 257.1855) • Driver distraction is the primary cause of crashes - look for children and buses, plan for them and allow extra time on your route to and from work. • Pass a stopped school bus that is loading or unloading students in the Orion School district – Civil Infraction violation with. Fine $255.00 and 3 points. (52/3 District Court) • Disregard a School Crossing Guard - is a Misdemeanor offence, you will be in a courtroom and see a judge for criminal penalty. • Statistically, most student traffic related fatalities occur during Elementary School take home time, exactly when many young or new drivers are leaving school or heading to work or school related events. Bus Stop Safety for Parents – One of the primary complaints to police departments regarding school bus stops is made by parents about other parents. Those most concerned with student safety quite often are the source of student danger. Often, it is a matter of not considering why actions cause problems that create the danger. Please consider and avoid these hazards; • Make sure your student knows where their stop is located and be on time • Make sure new, younger students that must cross a road to get to the stop, do so at least 10 feet IN FRONT of the bus • It is a parent’s responsibility to get a student safely to and from a bus stop. • Speeding to and from a school or bus stop to drop off or pick up a child is a common complaint, and a costly ticket. • Make sure students know the school conduct rules for bus stops and transportation. Students can lose the privilege to ride a bus for repeated or severe conduct violations. • Parents should not park cars within an intersection or in a manner that obstructs the clear vision area at intersections at bus top locations. This may result in being illegally parked, and does create extremely dangerous conditions for children and other motorists. Quite often during inclement weather, numerous parents will swarm a stop location to use their vehicles as a shelter for their children trying to get as close to the bus stop as possible. Please know these dangers; a) Cars parked on, half on and on the shoulder in a clear vision area are illegally parked and block the safety vision area of non-school related traffic trying to enter and leave the intersection b) Cars closely parked in and around a bus stop will pull in and out after their child is dropped, while other children are exiting cars, darting in and out to get to the bus. This hazard is magnified when driver visibility is limited due to heavy rain or snow, which is when this occurs most often. c) Clear vision are is different depending on the type of roadway, but is normally a 25 foot setback in all direction of the intersecting streets. Some intersections may have signs posted “No Parking” making it even clearer. d) If you must drive a child to a bus stop, you must park, stop or stand in a manner that is legal and safe. Find a location out of the clear vision area, and away from the immediate area of the bus stop. Bus Stop Safety for Students - • Dress for conditions, and arrive on time, be ready to board ! • Keep hands and feet to yourself. No rough activity, shoving wrestling etc… • DO NOT cross a road unless you know it’s clear • Group away from a road edge • Inappropriate conduct on buses can result in disciplinary action • Be safe, help others in need and please be careful at all times. Together we can create safe a school route and transportation environment, it takes us all to complete that mission. For more information, please see the LO Schools Transportation Handbook at lakeorion.k12.mi.us/userfiles/3/TransHandbook.pdf or speak with LO School administration and staff. For questions relating to laws relating to bus stop traffic and parking enforcement, please call your local police department.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 17:09:16 +0000
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