The start of the 2024 school year is just around the corner, which also means that so are the big yellow school buses transporting our Hoosier students to and from school each day.
As an agency, the Indiana State Police commits an extraordinary amount of time and resources each year to ensure the safe transportation of our school age children. Whether that commitment is in the form of educational programs, annual/semi-annual safety inspections on the more than 16,000 public and private Indiana school buses, or just plain tackling the problem head-on with dedicated traffic patrols and enforcement campaigns… but regardless of our best efforts and without question, we will always rely on the cooperation and voluntary compliance from the general motoring public to keep our children safe while being transported each school day.
With that in mind, the Indiana State Police wishes to remind Hoosier motorists of the rules of the road as well as the Indiana traffic laws that are in place to make our roadways safer for school bus transportation. Please help us make our Hoosier School Buses safe for transportation this year!
SCHOOL BUS WARNING SIGNS AND THEIR MEANING:
- First and foremost, motorist should avoid Distracted Driving behavior. In order to operate safely around or near a school bus, you need first to pay attention to the intentional warning signals, lights, and signs that are there to get your attention.
- Secondly, the presence alone of a large yellow school bus should alert drivers to the fact that there are presumably school age children in the immediate area, whether riding on the bus, or walking / waiting at their curbside bus stop.
- Prior to stopping, a bus driver will first initiate large Yellow flashing lights to alert drivers in both directions that the bus is preparing to stop… another indicator that children may be nearby. Motorists should slow down, prepare to stop, and observe for children nearby.
- Red flashing lights and an extended “stop sign” bus arm will indicate the bus has stopped and children are loading or unloading the bus. Motorists MUST stop their vehicles and wait until the red lights stop flashing and the extended stop arm is fully retracted BEFORE proceeding to pass the school bus.
PENALTIES FOR DISREGARDING A SCHOOL BUS STOP ARM:
- Under Indiana law under IC 9-21-12-1 makes it illegal to pass a stopped school bus that has its red lights flashing and stop-arm extended, except on highways divided by a barrier. If the highway is divided by a barrier, motorists are only required to stop if they are traveling in the same direction as the school bus.
- First time violators of this law will receive a ticket and face steep fines and drivers license suspensions for up to 90 days; repeat offenders may face a license suspension up to one year.
- Under Indiana’s Reckless Driving statute IC 9-21-8-52, Misdemeanor & Felony criminal penalties exist for violators that recklessly disregard school bus stop arms, and/or violations that result in a crash, or crash causing injury.
*For more information on school bus related resources, the following links are being included for general information.
- School Bus Inspection Public Access Site, https://secure.in.gov/ISP/BusInspections/Public/Index
- Indiana State Police, http://www.in.gov/isp/
- Indiana Department of Education, Office of School Transportation, http://www.doe.in.gov/transportation
- School Transportation Association of Indiana, http://www.stai.us/
- Indiana State School Bus Drivers Association, http://issbus.com/
- National Association of Pupil Transportation, http://napt.org/
- National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services http://www.nasdpts.org/
- National Congress on School Transportation, http://www.nasdpts.org/ncstonline/index.html
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, http://www.nhtsa.gov/School-Buses
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