ST PAUL, Minn. — State lawmakers are looking to address what they consider a flagrant safety problem on our roads: drivers who fail to stop for school buses.
“We rely on our drivers and our operators here to keep our kids safe. But they need our help. And more importantly, they probably need your help to bring attention to this problem,” said Sen. Rich Draheim, R-Madison Lake.
Draheim and other lawmakers from both parties are pushing several bills that address school bus safety: from funding a public awareness campaign, to exploring whether to extend bus stop arms to block traffic, to beefing up the penalties of distracted driving to make them equivalent to that of drunk driving if the behavior results in injuries or death.
“The problem that we have with school bus safety is with people – driving by a school bus where it’s lit up like a Christmas tree and they blow by it,” said Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, chair of the Senate Transportation Finance and Policy Committee which heard testimony about the safety-related measures on Tuesday morning.
Newman later added: “The fact that we haven’t had a child killed, it’s a miracle when you watch some of these videos.”
According to the Department of Public Safety, there are more than 100,000 stop-arm violations in the state every year. A one-day tally revealed more than 600 violations, with fewer than 30 percent of drivers reporting.
“This morning had another one go through – didn’t stop,” said Jim Perotti, a bus driver in the Mazeppa area who says he’s witnessed too many close calls.
“Everyone we know seems to be going through these stop signs. We got to stop it, and sooner the better,” Perotti said.
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