State records show thousands violate school bus safety laws

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — School districts and police are warning drivers to stop for school buses dropping off and picking up kids after a tragic crash in Fulton County. 

Police said a woman drove by a bus’s extended stop sign arm, striking and killing three siblings who were walking to the bus. 

According to the Indiana Department of Education, drivers passed buses with the stop arms extended more than 3,000 times in one day last April. The figure comes from a one-day, voluntary survey the state conducts every year. Some school districts did not participate. 

About 248 of the violations on that April day were recorded in the Metropolitan School District of Perry Township, where transportation director Pat Murphy says the buses are equipped with flashing lights and mechanical signs telling drivers in both directions of traffic to stop. 

“It’s very frustrating. To know this is all about safety, about these children. That’s why we have the bright yellow buses,” Murphy said. 

Murphy said, thankfully for Perry Township, the unlawful driving has never resulted in a tragedy like the one in Fulton County. 

State police say drivers in both directions of traffic are required by law to stop when the bus’s stop sign is extended. The only exception: drivers on the opposite side of the road from a bus can keep going if a barrier divides the road. 

“These things could be prevented,” ISP Sgt. Tony Slocum. “The reason those laws are in place is so we don’t have a tragedy like we did yesterday.” 

Murphy said the school’s police work to ID drivers who pass the stop arms and cite them. He said the team also tries to plan drop offs and pickups so kids don’t have to cross the street. 

Greenwood Community Schools said their drivers also see stop sign violations daily and the problem tends to get worse around the holiday shopping season, when drivers are more anxious to get out of traffic.