It’s more than common sense, it’s the law

The information came in to the news room in a relatively short press release from the Enterprise Police Department.

The essence of the press release was that on Feb. 7 at 7:26 a.m., the EPD had issued four traffic citations to the driver of a Hyundai Sonata who had rear-ended a school bus with children on board at the intersection of Boll Weevil Circle and Shellfield Road—and then left the scene.

Witnesses helped police identify the vehicle which was located at the Enterprise High School campus, the press release reported.

The students on the rear-ended school bus were picked up and transported by a different bus to their schools.

There were no injuries reported in the accident but in addition to thanking God for that blessing, we should pause to really think this through.

In this roaring fast, instantaneous world we have continuing concerns about children’s safety. Putting them on a school bus should not be one of them.

Here’s the deal: When a school bus is stopped, pay attention. Sometimes the stop indicates that the school bus is picking up and dropping off children. Sometimes the stop indicates that the school bus is at a railroad crossing where bus drivers are required to come to a complete stop before proceeding.

Bus drivers are required to come to a complete stop at a yield sign and in their training are strongly discouraged from turning right on a red light.

In Alabama, drivers must stop when they are following or meeting a school bus, or a church bus, stopped on the road while the stop signal arm is extended and red flashing lights are flashing.

The law actually requires that vehicle drivers stop at least 20 feet from the front and 20 feet from the rear of a stopped school bus and are required to remain stopped until the stop signal is retracted and the red lights stop flashing.

Drivers should also stop when meeting or following a school or church bus which is stopped on a four to six lane undivided highway.

An increasing number of states are allowing video cameras to be installed on the outside of school buses to record illegal passing in an effort to catch and punish motorists who pass stopped school buses.

At least 16 states have school bus stop-arm camera laws, to include Alabama.

In 2016, Alabama enacted a law allowing for exterior school bus cameras, expanding a program initially created in 2015 in Mobile County.

In accordance with the school bus stop-arm camera law, school boards are authorized to install cameras at key locations on the exterior of each school bus.

The Coffee County School System already has the stop-arm exterior camera on every route-bus school bus in the system, according to CCS Superintendent Kevin Killingsworth. In fact, there are a total of six cameras on the new buses and four on the oldest buses in the school bus fleet. “The safety of our students and school bus drivers are a top priority,” he said.

Almost all of the Daleville City School buses have an exterior camera, said DCS Transportation Supervisor Ted Folsom.

Enterprise City School buses do not currently have the stop-arm exterior cameras on them, according to ECS Transportation Director Ricky Britt. As the city school system purchases new buses, they do come with additional features, he said. As an added safety measure, ECS buses pick up students on the “door side” of the street thus alleviating the need for students to cross a street, Britt added.

The automated school bus safety cameras may only take pictures of the vehicle and vehicle license plate and only while an infraction is occurring.

When a school bus extends its stop-arm, the system can automatically detect if a vehicle passes the stopped school bus within the enforced zone.

The cameras capture photos and video of the violating vehicle if it passes the school bus.

The pictures show not only the violating vehicle as it passes the school bus but also the vehicle’s license plate and the extended stop-arm on the school bus. The system also records a video of the violating vehicle as further evidence of the violation.

At that point, the data and images are then wirelessly uploaded for processing.

Clearly exterior cameras would not have clicked on in the Feb. 7 incident but they are a start for our communities to consider.

Looking for the school bus’s flashing light, seeing the stop arm and stopping is more than a common sense suggestion. It’s the law and these exterior stop-arm cameras may help enforce it.

Michelle Mann is a staff writer for The Southeast Sun and Daleville Sun-Courier. The opinions of this writer are her own and not the opinion of the paper. She can be reached at (334) 393-2969 or by email at [email protected].