Back To School Bus Safety: Tips For MOCO's First Week of School

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — The first day of school in Montgomery County is upon us, and it's time for motorists to re-familiarize themselves with laws requiring them to halt when the school bus stop arm is extended and other bus safety tips.

An average of seven school-age children die every year in school bus crashes, but nearly three times that number are killed waiting for or getting on or off the bus, according to School Transportation News.

“Drivers are out of practice when it comes to the rules of the roads with schools buses and students walking and biking to school,” said Ragina C. Ali, Manager of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic in a release. “It is critical that they remember those rules - and abide by them.”

In Maryland, drivers on both sides of a road have to stop at least 20 feet away from a school bus that has its flashing red lights on, and cannot move until the lights turn off. You could receive $570 citation and up to 3 points on your license for ignoring bus arm laws. Drivers on the other side of a divided highway do not have to stop.

States across the country have mostly focused on two policies, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures — allowing school districts to use bus cameras to help catch motorists illegally passing stopped school buses, and requiring seat belts.

Devon McDonald, of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, said speeding around, or ignoring, a bus stop arm is “reckless,” in a statement reported by the Journal-Gazette.

“It puts everyone on the road at risk, including children, and has to stop,” McDonald said.

School Transportation News reports an average of 19 kids are killed every year getting on or off the bus, while about seven a year die in school bus crashes.

See Also: What To Do When A Bus Stop Arm Is Extended

Most of the victims are between five and seven years old, according to Stanford Children’s Health, and hit in “danger zones,” the area within 10 feet in front of, behind, and to either side of a bus.
Less than three years ago, 12 children were killed and another 47 injured while getting on and off school buses from August 2018 to March 2019.

Among them were three Rochester, Indiana, siblings who died in 2018 while waiting for their school bus, which authorities said had its stop arm extended and lights flashing. Just a day later, a 9-year-old boy in Tupelo, Mississippi, was killed while crossing a highway trying to get to a school bus.

A year earlier, school bus drivers across the United States saw nearly 78,000 drivers illegally passing school buses in one day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“Motorists need to pay attention to what's going on around them," National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services President Michael LaRocco told School Transportation News after the back-to-back days of children’s deaths at school bus stops.

School bus driver shortages in some areas might make some parents drive their kids to school or leave students waiting on the side of the road for longer.

“In addition to the typical increase in traffic that occurs at the beginning of each school year, the school bus driver shortage means buses taking longer routes, students waiting at bus stops for longer periods of time and more parents opting to drive their children to school,” said Ali. “While the return to school and our roads will look different this year, our responsibility for keeping students safe hasn’t changed.”