In an effort to expand protections already in place for younger school children, Acting New Jersey Gov. Kim Guadagno yesterday signed into law legislation that secures school bus safety precautions for adult students with developmental disabilities.
The measure, S-618, requires school bus drivers to use flashing red lights when picking up or dropping off passengers with disabilities and requires motorists that are approaching or overtaking a school bus to stop at least 25 feet ahead of the bus with activated flashing lights. This legislation also establishes penalties for violators that are consistent with protections and violations for child passengers on school buses.
Photo courtesy of Tim Larsen, Governor’s office.
“We are making a commonsense and important step to provide adult students with development disabilities with the same protections currently in place for child passengers. We are not only increasing the safety factor for persons with disabilities, but also making safety indicators more consistent for motorists who encounter school buses in their daily travels,” said Guadagno.
Now, motorists will know without a doubt that when they see a school bus come to a stop with its lights flashing, they must halt their vehicles for passengers who are either boarding or exiting the bus, she explained. Under the new law, violators face a minimum fine of $100, up to 15 days in jail or 15 days of community service, and they also receive five points on their driver’s license.
There are new requirements for school bus operators that prohibit them from starting the bus or discontinuing the flashing red lights until every person with a developmental disability who is disembarking has reached a place of safety.
“This is really just a common-sense law that will require school bus drivers and motorists to use the same precautionary measures that are used when a school bus is transporting school children,” said Senate President Steve Sweeney, who is the father of an adult daughter with a developmental disability.
Other states that recently increased penalties for drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses include Michigan, Georgia, Iowa and Nebraska. Iowa’s “Kadyn’s Law” has since inspired federal legislation that would extend penalties nationwide to motorists convicted of passing stopped school buses and could also cut federal highway funds for states that fail to comply. In June the U.S House unanimously passed Kadyn’s Amendment, which requires the federal government to dedicate at least $10 million toward helping states step up enforcement of traffic laws around the school bus.
This spring 28 states participated in the second annual national count of illegal school bus passers established by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation to address this safety hazard. In total, these states recorded 38,000 incidents, many of them involving more than one driver.
