by Tiffany
King
Staff Writer
An increased number of stopped school buses is being passed
on Rivers Street, posing a dangerous threat to the young
children, University Police Crime Prevention Officer, Sgt.
Jeremy Jones said.
“Passing stopped school busses is becoming a huge problem.
I have written a couple of tickets recently myself. I don’t
think that people don’t think that students know that
you can’t pass a stopped school bus even if you are
on the other side of the road, because there are probably
medians where they come from, and they would not have to
worry about it,” Jones said.
“ If a school bus is traveling down Rivers Street on
the stadium side and you are traveling on the Edwin Duncan
side, if that bus stops and puts its arm out to let children
off, you must stop for that bus,” Jones said.
The school buses, which travel down Rivers Street at approximately
3:30 p.m., are normally filled with elementary school children,
who Jones said, are not as aware of what is going on around
them.
“These are not high school kids getting off these buses,
they are elementary school kids, and they are just in a hurry
to get off the bus, and if you pass them, a young child could
just run out in front of you,” Jones said.
North Carolina General Statutes say, “A vehicle driver
approaching from any direction on the same street, highway,
or public vehicular area any school bus must stop while the
bus is displaying its mechanical stop signal or flashing
red stoplights, and is stopped to get on or off passengers,
and not proceed until the mechanical stop signal has been
withdrawn, the flashing red stoplights have been turned off,
and the bus has moved on.”
The punishment for passing a stopped school bus is also very
strict.
“If you pass a stopped school bus, it is an automatic
five points on your license, a fine, which is up to the discretion
of the judge, and court costs.
"It is considered a class 2 misdemeanor which is stricter
than most traffic law punishments,” Jones said.
“We don’t want to have to write these tickets,
but we have to stop this from happening,” Jones said.
Watauga County Schools Transportation Director, Toni Parlier
said that the biggest complaint with this issue is how people
who pass stopped school buses are punished.
“My biggest complaint is that in North Carolina, judges
reserve the right to reduce the points added on to a offenders
license.
"The punishment is supposed to be five points added
on to your license, but most judges will reduce that significantly,”
Parlier said.
“Last March we tabulated all the incidents of stopped
school buses being passed in North Carolina on just one day.
On that one day 2,500 people passed stopped school busses.
That is unacceptable,” Parlier said.
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