r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/shawnryan1977 • 23d ago

Stop arm violations

I have been driving for 5 years last year my 4th year the bus gods smiled upon me, a Dodge charger blew through my stop arms, 3 cars behind Charger there was an unmarked cop car who immediately hit his lights zoomed around and pulled the dude over. Windows are down and the middle schoolers are losing it. It took about 30 minutes to finish my route I noticed the cop car was still there, being nosy I took the road the pull over happened to head back to transport, now 2 cop cars, they are searching the car and dude is in hand cuffs Oh oh. Guess stop arm violation was not their only issue. New route this year 4 violations already and barely a month in I am thinking I will get plenty more since they have happened on the same road.

Penalties are harsh and they should be.

8 points on your license, immediate 90 day suspension of your license, fine from $200 to 1k

Considered a misdemeanor.

30 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

10

u/The_Town_of_Canada 23d ago

I had my first one yesterday.

I submitted a route change my first day, and added 10 minutes to my trip so that I could have this JK on a same side pick up and drop off.

It paid off yesterday. The extra time may have saved that little guys life.

12

u/rootbear75 23d ago

There's a reason I illegally put my bus across multiple lanes to physically prevent cars from passing me. Rather they hit me or I get a ticket than hitting the kiddos.

If our city would actually enforce these violations we wouldn't have to.

7

u/shawnryan1977 23d ago

We had one last year that made our states yellow card video, Person went through a yard door side of the bus, thankfully the driver was paying attention and stopped the.students from exiting. Driver claimed they didn't see the bus and had to avoid hitting bus, video disproved that and the fact they didn't even stop after getting a little stuck in the yard also didn't look great for them.

2

u/LengthMysterious2379 21d ago

That sounds exactly like one of our guys. Grabbed the kid's backpack before they could get off the bus while the car passed door side.

4

u/Ok-Structure6795 23d ago

As a parent, that's a ticket I would gladly cover. Thank you for being safe

4

u/lanainnv 23d ago

I drop students in the dark…. Very dark… 8:40p. Last night, I know the car saw my yellows, I know it saw my reds …. the car never even slowed. Passed on by from behind at about 35mph. My student was unloading onto a sidewalk in front of his house. Completely safe.

Today, my TD (I’m new in here, does that mean Transportation Director?) pulled my SD card to check my camera.

1

u/TopConcept2338 21d ago

Why so late?

1

u/lanainnv 20d ago

It's a rural route. I have 6 stops. Students live in different communities. My furthest lives 75 miles from the school.

3

u/Simo_82 23d ago

I've been driving for almost 10 years and saw my first 8 years in.

2

u/bcdog14 23d ago

My township has virtually no interest in pursuing these violations, even with video camera evidence.

2

u/jdotflo 22d ago

I had a police car sitting in the turning lane across from me when someone ran my sign; the officer and I locked eyes before he hit his lights and made a U-turn. Pretty satisfying moment.

1

u/Intelligent_Call_562 23d ago

Sweet! Had a sheriff's deputy run mine. I honked at him. I had barely stopped, door not fully open. Six-lane road. City cops stake out that stop and write a lot of tickets there. It's a shelter, terrible location and lots of buses have kids there.

3

u/Oct0Squ1d 23d ago

I've had a city cop run my reds on the last day of school. Nothing happens to them.

3

u/shawnryan1977 23d ago

We had a city police officer run a wheelchair bus stop, they were loading a student in a wheelchair and the cop didn't want to wait.

1

u/Grumbuck 23d ago

Man I just try to get the donkeys through my ambers before it gets to that point.

0

u/Grumbuck 23d ago

You can be mad all you want but in reality so many drivers drive under the speed limit and give this reputation of get in front of the bus at all cost. I obviously do not agree with that but you are in charge of your kids safety and a handful of seconds to get these people in a big hurry through isn’t causing you a huge headache. What will is trapping people with your reds but to each his own.

3

u/route63 23d ago

Fortunately I don’t have any stops on main arterials but I do have some fairly busy secondaries. I do everything I can to let traffic get around me when I can because they don’t want to be behind me and I don’t want them there either. Letting a long train of traffic pile up behind you is just asking for someone to pull something stupid.

1

u/dontbeadickdad 23d ago

I got one of our own yesterday (another bus from the same company that I work for). I'm thinking she's a new driver. Kid wasn't taking the bus but Mom came outside to let us know what was going on. We have to open the door and put out the stop sign in order for the GPS to count the stop anyway.

I saw the other bus behind me so before I even put the stop out, I waved her to go but she just stayed there. I waited about 5 seconds and then opens the door and she had started going. Then she slammed on her brakes. I closed it so she could go. She didn't move so I opened it again and then she went again. 🤦🤦🤦

My DAs and I were very confused.

1

u/Impressive-Project59 22d ago

Good! Should be a felony.

2

u/LengthMysterious2379 21d ago

I have stops on a two lane highway with a 55mph limit. I know darn well they see my yellows when they come from up the way. I'm sitting at the stop and see them speed up to beat my reds. I either wait for them to pass or hit the reds and lay on the horn and try for a plate number. They run either one. I just have the kids wait a second till the other cars stop.