Edhat Staff
(stock photo)
California Highway Patrol (CHP) announced it will crack down on vehicles that illegally pass school buses.
On Thursday, the Buellton CHP station released a statement announcing they will conducting an enhanced enforcement operation focused on school bus pedestrian safety. Specifically, motorists who fail to stop for a school bus with its flashing red lights activated and stop arm extended (if equipped).
The enforcement operation is scheduled to take place on Thursday, May 17 along State Route 246 within Santa Barbara County.
During the operation, CHP officers will ride as passengers on school buses and actively watch motorists who fail to stop. The officers will be in communication with CHP patrol vehicles in the proximity of the bus and drivers who illegally pass the bus during the operation will be stopped and issued a warning or citation.
A 2016 California Department of Education School Bus Illegal Passing Driver survey of 137 school districts and nine school bus contractors in California revealed that over 26,000 motorists failed to stop for a school bus that was stopped to load or unload students.
The law states all drivers must stop from either direction when a school bus flashes their red lights until the children are safe across the street and the lights stop flashing. Yellow flashing lights on a school bus warn a driver to slow down and prepare to stop. If a motorist fails to stop, they may be fined up to $1,000 and could have their driving privilege suspended for one year. If the school bus is on the other side of a divided or multilane highway, drivers do not need to stop.
Its about time. The safety of these children is important.
In these days of stretched resources, the County Sheriff should consider utilizing a Reserve Officer core that could shadow the school buses, utilize web cams for proof of violation and then pull over the offenders to write tickets as needed. The ticket fees would more than cover the vehicle and other costs of a volunteer core for these purposes. The volunteers could be used for many non-violent offender patrols and stings like crosswalk violations and speeding in school / residential zones. My father was part of a similar core, affectionately named the “Geezer Patrol” with the Ventura County Sheriffs in Thousand Oaks , and it is highly effective to have more patrol cars on the roads performing various functions. There are so many competent retirees in this area that would enjoy participating in a volunteer position like this that can be exciting and very valuable to the community at large.
Yay, I can’t wait. Hopefully they are consistent with these operations, that’s the only way people will finally follow the rules, if they know they WILL get caught. Something is seriously wrong with you if you can’t wait 60 seconds for a child to safely get out of the bus and to their parent.
The strategy described in this press release is almost certainly illegal. Citations are to be issued by the officer who actually observed the violation. If the CHP in the car who does the detention did not see it happen the most she or he can do is seek a complaint from the DA. Of course they will probably issue the ticket anyway, knowing the almost on one will this bad conduct. It is discouraging, at best, however, to see them publicizing their malintentions to us all.
The reason for requiring the arresting officer to observe the crime is that otherwise it is just hearsay. Do you want your neighbor to simply call a cop and tell her to write a citation against you without the cop even seeing anything?