Pay attention to flashing lights

—Accidents involving children getting on/off a bus are increasing
Howard County - Just a few weeks ago, there were five deaths in three days  of children at bus stops nation-wide. Howard-Winneshiek Transportation Director Brian Swestka has gotten a few calls from parents asking how safe their children are.
The school district is fortunate there have been no accidents in over 20 years, but that doesn’t mean it is incident-free. In fact, Swestka says, “It’s not uncommon to have one stop-arm violation a week.” 
A stop-arm violation is the act of illegally passing a stopped school bus with red lights flashing. When that happens, Swestka looks at the bus video, and the driver fills out a report that is turned over to law enforcement. Each How-Winn bus has video inside and outside the vehicle.
“One thing a lot of people don’t realize is that we don’t have to see the driver. If we don’t know who was driving, the ticket will be issued to the owner of the vehicle,” the transportation director said. “Most of the time we are able to get a license plate.”
The majority of the local violations take place on the highway or on school property, in the unloading zone. The highway incidents usually happen in the afternoon while most of the unloading zone infractions take place in the morning.
Although rural areas do not have as many stop-arm violations as larger areas, Swestka said nobody is immune. And it is any number of demographics, including parents of students, service trucks, semis and more. “You can’t dial it into any age group.”
It was just seven short years ago when Kadyn Halverson, age seven, of Northwood, Iowa was struck and killed by a pickup while trying to cross the road to board a bus. Since then Kadyn’s law was enacted, putting stricter penalties on those passing stopped school buses.
Locally, Sheriff Mike Miner said many of the charges, including surcharges, don’t go much over $200. These include passing a bus, failure to have control and not wearing a safety belt.
Miner say most of the reasons for these accidents and violations are due to distracted driving. Although cell phones fit into that category, so do fiddling with the radio, reaching for a beverage or just chatting with others in the vehicle. 
Sheriff Miner noted cars have all sorts of distractions — built-in beverage holders, radios and more. But the cell phone is the biggest distraction. “I see people using their cell phones all the time. It is usually when I am in my personal vehicle. They tend to put them away when we are in a marked car.”
Swestka figures about one-third are distracted drivers. “The others either don’t know it is against the law to pass a stopped bus, or they don’t care.”
Even over just the last year, the transportation director has noticed more stop-arm violations. From the beginning of the year to mid-November, the number of violations is more than last year.
The numbers don’t lie, and they are scary.
According to Transportation Consultant Max Christensen of the Iowa Department of Education, there are 6,000 school buses in the state, that haul 239,000 children twice a day over 227,000 miles.
Christensen stated in May 2018, 30 percent of the state’s school bus drivers took a voluntary survey and cited there were 265 pass-by violation in one day! Multiply that by 3.33 (to equal 100 percent), which is 883 per day in Iowa. Now multiply that by 180 days of school (158,940). That is a staggering number of potential accidents.
What is the district doing?
As stated prior, the district turns in vehicles that pass a stopped bus to the sheriff or police department. 
Swestka said, “We do the best we can. Kids need to watch the bus driver. He or she will give a hand signal, whether it’s good to go across the road.”
What should parents do?
Parents need to explain the importance of looking both ways when crossing a road, either from the bus or other times.
Parents need to educate their young drivers. First off — no cell phones while driving.
Also, the flashing yellow lights on a bus mean it is going to stop. If you see the yellow lights, be prepared to stop early. The red flashing lights will be coming up.
A reminder to all drivers is to just pay attention. It only takes a second to lose your concentration. This could cause the driver to go in a ditch, hit another vehicle or hit a child on his or her way home from school. Do you want to be the person to live with the burden of that for the rest of your life? 

Cresco Times

Phone: 563-547-3601
Fax: 563-547-4602

Address:
Cresco TPD
214 N. Elm Street
Cresco, IA 52136

Sign Up For Breaking News

Stay informed on our latest news!

Manage my subscriptions

Subscribe to Breaking News feed