The Nevada Highway Patrol and the Clark County School District partnered last week to crack down on dangerous drivers, placing officers on area school buses to catch these hazardous motorists in the act of breaking the law.
The Badge on the Bus program was created to address stop-arm violators and make local citizens aware of new regulations with regard to school zones. It will be in operation for the full school year.
Effective Oct. 1, the Silver State’s new school zone law made it illegal for drivers to make U-turns in active school and school crossing zones, as well as prohibiting motorists from passing stopped vehicles, such as school buses, in these same areas.
“Law enforcement ride on the school bus, and when drivers either violate the new regulations or pass a stopped school bus with their stop arm extended, the officer radios ahead to law enforcement who pull over the driver,” said Diana Hollander, program officer for the Office of Safe and Respectful Learning Environments at the Nevada Department of Education and the state’s director of pupil transportation.
During School Bus Safety Week, authorities reportedly wrote close to 80 tickets in one day, with many of the drivers given citations in and out of these school zones. The tickets can cost drivers more than $1,000.
One officer stated that they could write tickets the entire year, but it would be better if people would learn to become safer drivers.
According to the 2015 Nevada Stop Arm Survey, more than 2,431 vehicles passed a school bus with its stop arm extended and children present in a single day. Hollander reported that a majority of these cases occurred in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.
“The Badge on the Bus is a great initiative and a valuable partnership with our law enforcement agencies,” said Hollander.
