Motorists illegally pass school buses in Utah more often than you might think. During the school year, it occurs about 250 times a day in the Granite School District according to driver tallies.
“Running a bus's red lights is the recipe to kill a kid because you don't see them as they're crossing in front of the bus,” said district transportation director David Gatti.
The district has 140 buses that make at least two trips daily. Going around a bus only shaves a few seconds off someone’s drive, Gatti said. And when students are getting on or off the bus, “that’s the most dangerous time.”
“People are paying attention to everything except what's on the road in front of them right now,” Gatti said, “We have this world, for whatever reason, that is in a giant hurry, and it is putting the lives of kids at stake.”
Violations happen in other districts too. It’s why Utah is cracking down on drivers who illegally pass school buses.
Under a new law that went into effect earlier this year, a first-time offense will cost a driver $1,000 and 10 hours of community service. The penalties increase for a second offense.
State officials hope this will get people’s attention about sharing the road with buses.
Utah Department of Public Safety spokesperson Jason Mettmann called it “an absolutely unacceptable problem” and the people who don’t stop for school buses are “putting those kids at risk as they're trying to get to and from school safely.”
In the past five years, he said the state has seen 137 school bus crashes with nine injuries. Accidents are up 8% this year over last year with 23 accidents related to buses.
Mettman said the top factors leading to accidents include failing to yield, making improper turns, and not staying in the correct lane.
“The buses are bright yellow to be visible,” Mettman said.
“They have flashing amber and red lights. They have a big lit-up stop sign that comes out of the side of the bus on the driver's side to make sure that these buses are as visible as possible.”
The Granite School District is working to get more external cameras for its buses so they can capture footage of violators. Gatti said it could take them up to 15 years to do that because of the cost involved.
