FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO) – Starting tomorrow, the Fort Wayne Police Department will be paying special attention to area school bus stops in attempts to crackdown on drivers ignoring flashing lights and stop arms on buses.
According to the Journal Gazette, the grant-funded traffic enforcement campaign will continue during the weekdays in the mornings and afternoons through March 22.
Lt. Tony Maze of the Fort Wayne Police Department says he doesn’t want anybody running stop arms and calls it a “dangerous act.”
The illegal passing of school buses is a problem nationwide according to data collected by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services. In a 2018 survey, which includes 38 states and Washington D.C., 83,944 vehicles passed buses illegally on a single day during 2017-2018. 7,600 bus drivers reported 3,077 violations in Indiana alone.
A spokeswoman for Fort Wayne Community Schools, Krista Stockman, indicated that 156 of the 250 violations in Allen County were from bus drivers in Fort Wayne Community Schools.
A place where most of the violations happen is at the main entrance of Canterbury Green Apartments at Canterbury Boulevard and St. Joe Road. As a result, there will be a heavy police presence at that location. Police, however, will be watching all bus stops in the city as well.
Drivers can expect a traffic ticket if they violate the school bus stop laws and also face criminal charges when children are struck by a vehicle as a result.
