Kansas drivers need a lesson on school bus stop signs, survey finds

Ever wonder how often drivers whiz by the stop signs that swing out from school buses that drop off or pick up children?

Almost 10,000 times in a 30-day period, according to a new survey conducted by the Kansas Department of Education at the request of the Kansas Highway Patrol.

State law requires drivers to come to a stop when a school bus displays a stop signal arm and flashes red lights. Those behind the wheel are not supposed to proceed until the bus is in motion again.

But drivers in Kansas break that rule daily, the survey showed.

The Kansas 30-Day School Bus Survey found the following:

▪ At least 229 violations of the passing law were reported in a Kansas City metropolitan region that included the Blue Valley School District and the Olathe School District, as well as Bonner Springs-Edwardsville, Easton and Spring Hill schools.

▪ In the Kansas City region, more people illegally passed a school bus from the front (141) than the back (88).

▪ The total number of violations observed by survey participants in a 30-day period: 9,491.

The state also participated in a separate one-day survey that collected reports from 188 school districts from one day in April. Nearly 700 violations were tracked in one day.

While the survey is not a comprehensive look at bus-passing violations, it was meant to raise awareness about the dangers associated with illegal passing of buses. To collect violations, the Kansas State Department of Education collected reports from volunteer school districts to self-report violations that employees and staff observed.

This story was originally published August 18, 2017 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Kansas drivers need a lesson on school bus stop signs, survey finds."