Despite school buses’ incomparable safety record, student safety in the “danger zone” outside of the bus remains a problem. Now, for the second year, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services is directing each state to choose a single day for school bus operators to report instances of motorists illegally passing their school buses. The reporting deadline is May 31.
In Illinois, the data gathered last year have been instrumental in efforts to amend a law in the state vehicle code that would mandate the stop-arm violators actually pay for the stop-arm camera equipment from the raised fine fees — instead of using taxpayer dollars or burdening school districts. Additionally, this data will help to justify why a stop-arm camera is needed on every school bus in Illinois, said State Director of Pupil Transportation Cinda Meneghetti in a May 2 memorandum.
“The future survey to be completed in May 2012 will assist this group to successfully get the proposed bill introduced in the next legislation session,” she said.
In this memo to transportation directors at school districts and school-bus contracting companies, she emphasized the importance of the annual stop-arm violation survey.
“Many of you have stated over and over that this is a massive problem throughout our state, and the statistics of fatalities and injured children show evidence of this,” Meneghetti added. “We believe these efforts will help ensure our children’s safety.”
NASDPTS noted that state directors may enlist the help of their state associations if necessary. The association has made reporting tools available online, including the 2012 Driver Form, Illegal Passing Results Spreadsheet, and Sample Memo to Local Directors, as well as the 2011 Survey Results.
Meneghetti offered specific suggestions for school bus drivers and transportation directors to help ensure a successful survey. “You can clarify the wording, if needed, before you print the form. However, to ensure consistency of reporting, we are requesting that you not change the column titles or the driver ‘fill-in’ fields,” she said. “Please instruct school bus operators to pay particular attention to the instructions and safety precautions … Also, please note that an ‘incident’ is one or more cars illegally passing a stopped school bus during a complete stopping procedure.”
States that want to gather, review and compile their own data should use the form for state-level reporting, she explained, to present combined results from participating drivers statewide. Alternatively, Meneghetti said transportation directors can submit local-level summaries with results from drivers in the reporting school districts. This should be used by states that are providing the driver survey form to districts and/or school bus companies and requesting they report directly to NASDPTS.
