School bus safety: Wisconsin rules of the road

Site staff by Site Contributor

WAVY via CNN

More than 1,000 times last year alone in Wisconsin, drivers were cited for failing to stop for a school bus. Sometimes it’s drivers coming from the other direction going through an extended stop arm.

Other times it’s drivers swerving around a bus, narrowly averting children as they wait for or exit a school bus. But those 1,025 cases cited by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, one thing is clear: Those drivers were just the ones who were caught. For every one citation, there are likely many more that go unchecked, because there wasn’t an officer around to render a citation.

“On this road, it could almost be a daily basis,” said veteran school bus driver Nate Murray, as he offered News 3 a glance as his daily route, turning his Riteway Transportation yellow bus onto Highway 16 in Columbia County. “People see yellow lights flashing on my bus, and they think it means go faster, right? Not stop? My yellow means: I’m going to stop.”

While there is no excuse for drivers blowing past a school bus as it prepares to stop, there may be a little confusion that needs to be cleared up since a rules change for bus warning light systems changed in 2016.

Prior to 2016, Wisconsin school buses had all red flashing lights. The rule change now means any bus manufactured after 2005 needs to be equipped with flashing yellow lights. When those flashing lights are on, that simply means the bus is preparing to stop. Once the red lights are flashing, drivers either behind the bus, or approaching in the opposite direction, need to stop at least 20 feet from the school bus.

Furthermore, many drivers believe the stop arm needs to be extended by the driver outside his or her driver side window for traffic to stop. But that is not the case. Violations vary from one municipality to another, but failure to stop for a school bus can result in a fine of up to $300. In Madison, failure to stop for a school bus, according to Wisconsin Statute 347.48, will result in a $250 fine. Improperly passing or making a right turn in front of a stopped school bus is also punishable with a $250 fine.

But for school bus drivers and operators, the fine or points on a driver’s record mean little compared to the health of the children.

“The way I see it, we have the world’s most precious cargo on board,” Murray said. “It’s a responsibility not to be taken lightly.”

While a bus driver will try to get a description of a driver and a vehicle and a license plate number, their first priority is to the children.

“I’m upset they ran my stop sign,” Murray said, “but my first priority, is not them and their license plate. It’s making sure little Johnny or Little Susie is gonna make it home safe.”

More and more Wisconsin bus companies are finding ways to catch violators without interfering in a bus driver’s ability to safely transport children to school. While most buses in Wisconsin have on-board cameras, many newer models in the larger school districts feature dashcams, which are able to videotape a driver if they break the law and jeopardize student safety.

The deaths of three siblings as they waited for a bus in Fulton County, Indiana, in October, led Kaye Pare, operations manager at Riteway Transportation Group in Portage, to reach out to News 3 to remind people of the rules of the road when it comes to school buses.

“My heart just broke,” said Pare, who has been in the business as either a driver or in the management chain for many years. “People are too busy on their phones, too busy talking, texting, looking down, changing the radio station. They just need to wake up and watch for these kids.”

Over the years, she said, there have been far too many instances where she saw drivers putting students’ lives in jeopardy. She knows the many things bus drivers are juggling. Behind them are the noise and commotion of a busload of sometimes 70 students. In front of them are students trying to safely cross a road after getting on or off a school bus.

“It’s very, very hard. If you’re in the middle of letting a student on the bus, and you have someone who just decides to run it, that really gets you going,” Pare said.

Now, consider the world around that bus and a multitude of drivers who all too often don’t follow the rules.

“Emergency services always tell us: It’s not if it happens, it’s when. And we just don’t ever want to see it,” she said.

Murray, like so many bus drivers, is dedicated every day to making sure it doesn’t happen. “I have never had a child get hit. If that ever does happen, I personally think I will hang up my hat. I don’t know if I could recover.”

Don’t pass a school bus: Laws from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation

Drivers must stop on the street or highway 20 feet or more from any school bus that has stopped and is flashing red warning lights.

This applies both to vehicles approaching from the rear and from the opposing lanes.

All lanes of traffic must stop for the school bus, except in opposing lanes if the highway is divided with a center median.

No vehicle may proceed until the bus resumes motion and has turned off the red warning lights.

The stop arm on the bus is an added communication to other drivers, but the lack of an extended stop arm is not reason to pass a bus whose red lights are flashing.

In some urban areas buses will signal with yellow lights, or use red lights only in some parts of town. Motorists should observe school buses carefully for either the “pass cautiously” yellow light signal or the required full stop when a bus is flashing red lights.

A vehicle owner can be cited when the driver of a car passes a school bus illegally. A law enforcement officer need not witness this violation if the school bus driver reports it to the law enforcement agency within 24 hours. Fines can be quite high for illegally passing a school bus, but the risk of hitting a child is even higher.

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