Waterford Police Nab 27 Drivers for Disregarding School Bus Lights

(Waterford Police Chief Scott Underwood, Dec. 24, 2018)

Waterford, MI- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 1,313 people were killed in school transportation-related accidents from 2006-2015. 102 of those victims were classified as school-age pedestrians.

There have been several school bus stop tragedies reported recently from around the country. The fact is there are motorists that fail to stop for school bus signals every day, in every city and every town in the United States. Quite often luck and timing is the reason there aren’t more school bus stop related tragedies.

Waterford Police work together with the Waterford Schools transportation department throughout the school year to monitor bus stops, identify violators and issue citations. Beginning in November, Sergeant Chet Bartle worked with Waterford Schools transportation to identify specific bus stop locations for targeted enforcement. These locations were identified as “problem” locations by bus drivers who regularly view motorists disregard their flashing red signals.

During this targeted effort Officers were deployed to specific locations prior to pick-up times. Fifteen Police Officers were deployed over eleven different days from November 20th through December 19th. As a result, thirteen citations were issued. To date Waterford Police have issued 27 citations for disregarding a school bus signal in 2018.

We implore motorists to slow down, eliminate distractions while driving, and pay attention to what’s going on around them. If everyone takes a few extra minutes, especially when approaching a school bus stop, tragedies like the ones recently reported can be avoided.