Law enforcement officers from three local agencies are riding along with Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. students on buses heading back to the first day of school today, looking for stop-arm violators.
Officers from the Columbus Police Department, deputies from the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department and troopers from the Indiana State Police will be on buses on selected routes starting very early this morning watching for motorists who ignore stop arms and drive around buses loading or unloading BCSC students.
It’s the first time the three agencies have teamed up on the first day of school for this type of enforcement, said Capt. Dave Steinkoenig, sheriff’s department road division commander.
Additional officers will be patrolling nearby so that when the law enforcement officer on a BCSC bus reports a stop arm violation, along with the violator’s vehicle description, the vehicle can be stopped quickly.
The Columbus Police Department has had officers following BCSC school buses on routes in the past, said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman. But this is the first coordinated effort among all of law enforcement in the first week of school to provide the surveillance starting with the first day.
BCSC Director of Operations Brett Boezeman said the agencies decided to place officers on the buses earlier this summer.
“We thought it would be another opportunity to inform the public on the seriousness of the matter and our commitment to making sure our kids are safe,” Boezeman said. “It also gives kids a great opportunity — the first smile and hello they will get from any school personnel well before they meet their teacher is from the bus driver, and the second one is going to be from a uniformed police officer.”
The three agencies are asking motorists to pay close attention to school bus stop arms as school resumes this morning.
The bus will flash yellow lights to alert drivers that buses are approaching a student stop. Red flashing lights indicate a school bus driver will be stopping, extending the stop arms and students may be present entering or exiting the bus.
For two-lane roads and multi-laned streets with traffic in both directions, all traffic must stop for the red flashing light school bus stop arm. For vehicles on a divided highway or street with unpaved space or concrete curb medians, traffic behind the bus must stop, and drivers in the opposite direction may continue with caution.
Steinkoenig said the BCSC transportation department has identified the routes with the most stop arm violations, which will have officers on buses.
Law enforcement routinely receives reports from bus drivers about stop arm violations, and at times will ask for an officer to try to find a violator in the event of close calls, Harris said.
“It’s all over this community,” Harris said of stop arm violations. “It’s in town, it’s in the county. It’s such a regular occurrence that sometimes bus drivers don’t even report it — It’s definitely scary.”
The Indiana State Police asked school bus drivers throughout Indiana to document every stop arm violation on April 23 during morning and afternoon routes, according to the ISP’s Twitter feed. According to that tally, on one day in Indiana, 2,530 stop arm violations occurred. Boezeman said BCSC drivers counted about 50 violations locally on that day.
While in the past, officers from all three agencies might have issued warnings to violators, this combined law enforcement effort will more than likely result in actual citations being written to drivers, Steinkoenig said.
Harris said officers will be treating the enforcement similar to Operation Pullover or other focused patrols where officers write citations for failing to wear a seat belt. Actually writing citations for stop arm violations is the intent of today’s effort, he said.
“Technically, it’s up to the discretion of the officer, but this (stop arm violation) is such a serious offense that in most cases we are going to cite rather than give warnings,” Steinkoenig said. “We’ve tried to do our best in educating people about this — we include the law on our Facebook notifications. The education part has taken place and now it’s time for enforcement.”
Motorists who are cited for disregarding a bus stop arm face, upon conviction, a $75 fine and $135.50 in court costs, along with eight points added to their license, according to the sheriff’s department.
A new state law effective July 1 allows Indiana courts to suspend a driver’s license for 90 days if the driver passes a school bus with its stop arm out. The same law increases the penalty for drivers who have previously committed stop arm violations.
“When kids are crossing streets or getting on at the curbside, there’s risks there,” Boezeman said. “Even one incident that would jeopardize the safety of one students, we don’t want that.”
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Two-Lane roadways
If a school bus stops on a two lane road and the red flashing lights are activated and the stop arm is extended, all motorists must stop.
Multi-lane roadways with NO barrier between lanes
When a school bus stops on a multi-lane roadway without a barrier and the red flashing lights are activated and the stop arm is extended, all motorists must stop.
Multi-lane roadway with a grassy and/or concrete barrier
When a school bus stops and the red flashing lights are activated and the stop arm is extended, only vehicles behind the bus must stop. Vehicles that are approaching from the opposite side are not required to stop.
Source: Indiana Department of Transportation
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