CHP Wants to Remind Drivers To Stop For School Buses During National School Bus Safety Week

This is a press release from the California Highway Patrol:

By Jared and Corin – School bus, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4995504

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Motorists who fail to stop for the flashing red lights of a school bus are the focus of National School Bus Safety Week, October 16-20, and the California Highway Patrol (CHP).

The theme of National School Bus Safety Week, “#STOP ON RED!” conveys an important message in California. Motorists who do not stop for the flashing red lights and crossing arm of a school bus put students and drivers in danger. More children are killed during loading and unloading, while outside the school bus, than while riding the bus. California has not had a pupil passenger fatality in 22 years, since 1995.

“Taking the bus is by far the safest way for children to get to school,” CHP Acting Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “Safety is no accident. Bus drivers, parents, students, and our officers all contribute to the safety record.”

The CHP began the Vehicles Improperly Passing a School Bus (VIPS) enforcement project in February 2017 following studies and input from the California Department of Education and California Association of School Transportation Officials. The VIPS project is designed to educate drivers and pedestrians that motorists must stop when the flashing red lights and crossing arm on a school bus are activated. The VIPS project also encourages people to report drivers who illegally pass a school bus.

Officers of the CHP work closely with California schools to educate motorists, students, and parents on ways to stay safe. More than 32,000 school bus drivers transport more than one million students each year in California, traveling approximately 278 million miles. The CHP is also responsible for inspecting more than 24,000 school buses each year.

The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of Safety, Service, and Security.

Here’s a video made by local students about 12 years ago. According to the person who sent me the video, “The students were Ricky Knapp and Daniel McBride and Benjamin McBride. The lab teacher and Subaru driver was Errin Odell. The Transportation Director who helped with the bus was Barbara Lake. The CHP officer was Paul Dahlen. The video was made as a lab project and PSA for educating the community about school bus red light procedure.”

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Chris
Guest
Chris
6 years ago

Kym why don’t you add the video I sent you?

Kym Kemp
Admin
6 years ago
Reply to  Chris

Good idea! I should have thought of that. I added the video and your information.

Roy
Guest
Roy
6 years ago

So starting on 10-21 we can just forget about the whole thing?

Remember,

PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

Livin' Easy
Guest
Livin' Easy
6 years ago

I believe it might help if school bus drivers were taught to stay in the lane when using the amber and red lights. As it is now, they are taught to pull off to the right side of the road. It would help to keep ‘most’ people from passing from behind, and be a larger ‘presence’ to people coming from the opposite direction. Granted, people should know the law and not need any help following it; but there will always be those that don’t know it, understand it or just don’t want to follow it. Ignorance of the laws is no excuse, but this is our kids lives we are talking about, and inconveniencing drivers to stay behind the bus until there is a place for the bus to pull over would be well worth changing the training methods. Kudos to all the school bus driver out there. Under appreciated and under paid!!!!

G-MAS
Guest
G-MAS
6 years ago

Yesterday I saw a man drive right into a group of kids just getting off the bus trying to cross,he didn’t hit them they ran,so he kept driving. I tried to get his plate# but he was driving way to fast😣it’s not hard to see a GAINT YELLOW SCHOOL BUS.WITH RED FLASHING LIGHTS,AND A PERSON WITH A STOP SIGN,AND STOP SIGN ON THE BUS IT SELFS. Really

Livin' Easy
Guest
Livin' Easy
6 years ago
Reply to  G-MAS

You are exactly right GM. With a driver escorting kids across the street, there is no excuse for someone not stopping. The problems mostly happen when there are no kids, K-8, crossing, which would require the bus driver to cross them; or when high school kids, 9th-12th get off and cross. The bus driver does NOT escort high school kids, 9th-12th. This means the high school kids have to look out for themselves when crossing. That’s when it’s most dangerous.

G-MAS
Guest
G-MAS
6 years ago

And a question I asked the school years ago,this is my pet peeve Why if their worried about safety with the bus,WHY ARE THERE NO SEAT BELTS.sorry I asked this 30 years ago and still asking today.