This month I would like to share with you some very dangerous statistics.
Since the beginning of school, we have had 57 automobiles pass stopped school buses with their flashing red lights on. This is potentially a very dangerous situation. We must all remember a yellow school bus is on the highway for one sole purpose, the safe transportation of children to and from school.
Ohio Revised Code states the following:
4511.75 Stopping for stopped school bus.
(A) The driver of a vehicle, streetcar, or trackless trolley upon meeting or overtaking from either direction any school bus stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging any school child, person attending programs offered by community boards of mental health and county boards of mental retardation and developmental disabilities, or child attending a program offered by a head start agency, shall stop at least ten feet from the front or rear of the school bus and shall not proceed until such school bus resumes motion, or until signaled by the school bus driver to proceed.
It is no defense to a charge under this division that the school bus involved failed to display or be equipped with an automatically extended stop warning sign as required by division (B) of this section.
I would like to remind all motorists to please obey the flashing red lights on a stopped school bus, this means stop your automobile for the safety of the students.
Parents please take a minute to speak to your child about proper behavior on the school bus, remember the school bus is an extension of the classroom and all classroom rules apply. We continue to have a lot of standing and changing seats while the bus is moving; a passenger in a school bus is only properly protected when seated facing forward with their feet on the floor.
Randy Conger,
transportation supervisor
