GUEST EDITORIAL : Stop at the stop
Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2008
School bus stops. Motorists stop.
Kids get off and walk toward their homes. School bus begins moving. Motorists begin driving. This simple process has been going on for decades, and it doesn't require much more than basic patience to make sure it works. But it appears some folks either lack the knowledge or patience necessary to take such a simple step toward protecting school children. Accidents can happen in a blink of an eye when only adults are involved. Toss in a child whose awareness of his surroundings is sometimes limited, and disaster can easily strike. State Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, believes more protection should be afforded kids as they approach or depart school buses. His Act 718 of 2007 required school bus drivers to file reports on any motorists who drive by a school bus while children are entering or exiting. Those reports, which are supposed to include a license number and a description of the vehicle, are supposed to be forwarded to district superintendents, who hand them over to prosecuting attorneys.
Penalties ? Besides community service and suspension of one's license, more serious fines can reach $ 1, 000, while jail time can go as high as 90 days behind bars. Shouldn't the possibility of slamming a 2, 000- or 3, 000-pound car into a youngster be deterrent enough ? Apparently not. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says buses as transportation are statistically eight times safer than passenger cars. But the transition from bus passenger to pedestrian is among the most dangerous times of a student's day.
"While an average of seven schoolage passengers are killed in school bus crashes each year, 19 are killed getting on and off the bus," the agency says.
The Benton County lawmaker isn't too happy with how his legislation has been enforced, and is already talking about making revisions. The state senator believes prosecutors aren't being tough enough.
Never a group to take things lying down, prosecutors have argued that school districts don't provide enough information to file charges and go after the guilty. A recent study by the Bureau of the Legislative Research discovered that between July 2007 and March 2008, a total of 27 motorists were prosecuted out of 503 reports filed by civilians, including bus drivers.
It doesn't help, of course, that figuring out the identity of the guilty party isn't the easiest thing in the world. For instance, was the individual driving the car at the time of the crime the same person who actually owns the vehicle or someone else ?
Police can't be at every stop, and bus drivers themselves have to be watching kids, not cars, so they don't accidentally run over someone themselves. This is where our wish is that technology could come to the rescue. For a few years, buses in some school districts have featured video recording devices that record what happens inside a bus. It seems to us the same sort of technology could easily be fitted on the exterior aimed in those areas where a car is most likely to pass.
If human eyes aren't fast enough to catch a license plate, make, model and other descriptive information, these video devices would most certainly be, and they might also show enough detail to prove who was actually behind the wheel of the offending car.
And if the equipment to attach such video recorders to the buses is too expensive for every bus, perhaps a transferable version could be used to "spot check"bus routes routinely.
Along with a campaign to educate the driving public that it's being watched, such an approach could have the needed deterrent effect.
Once identified, passing motorists need sure attention-getting treatment from police and prosecutors. Perhaps it's a citation, but it's also amazing what a friendly visit from a local police officer can do for a teenager or adult who doesn't yet understand that it's wrong to speed by a stopped school bus. Still, Hendren has a point. Society (remember, that means you ) needs to be made aware that prosecutors aren't fooling around. Offenders need to know they may get the proverbial book thrown at them. But trust us. Anything's better than having the death of a child on one's conscience.
- Northwest Arkansas Times
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online