September 28, 2017 – The California Highway Patrol is conducting enhanced enforcement operations focused on school bus pedestrian safety in western Nevada County.
During the enforcement operations, CHP officers will ride as passengers on school buses and actively watch for motorists who fail to stop for a school bus with its flashing red lights activated (and stop arm extended, if equipped). The officers will be in communication with CHP patrol vehicles in the proximity of the school bus. Drivers who are observed illegally passing a school bus during the safety operation will be stopped by an officer and issued a warning or traffic citation.
This project is designed to educate and remind motorists, parents, and students of the importance of school bus pedestrian safety. The CHP reminds all drivers, when a school bus flashes red lights (located at the top front and back of the bus), you must stop from either direction until the children are safely out of the street and the red lights stop flashing. Yellow flashing lights on a school bus warn a driver to slow down and prepare to stop. If the school bus is on the other side of a divided or multi-lane highway (two or more lanes in each direction), you do not need to stop.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Now, this is a CHP operation I can really get behind! I’ve seen some drivers do some pretty stupid things around crosswalks and busses. I can only imagine what most bus drivers see happening every day.