Kanawha County authorities say they will increase enforcement against drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses as a statewide focus on the problem continues.
Cpl. Brian Jones, highway safety coordinator for the Charleston Police Department, said he even issued a citation last week to Pratt Police Department Chief Eric Eagle for passing a stopped school bus Sept. 8 on MacCorkle Avenue in Kanawha City.
Jones said it was Eagle’s police car shown passing a Kanawha bus in a photo the county’s school transportation department sent to media outlets in mid-September. Calls to the Pratt Police Department late Wednesday weren’t returned.
Jones said Charleston Police — along with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, the St. Albans Police Department and other agencies — will be stepping up enforcement of illegal bus passers during National School Bus Safety Week, which is Oct. 19-23.
“We’re going to be out hitting it hard,” Jones said.
He said Charleston police will be following buses on MacCorkle Avenue, Greenbrier Street and other problem areas, waiting for people to pass and pulling them over. He said the department is still working to decide how many officers will be dedicated to the crackdown.
At a news conference at the Elkview school bus garage Wednesday, local sheriff’s officials said their agency will increase enforcement on the issue for the rest of the school year. Chief Deputy Mike Rutherford said that particularly in the next two weeks, extra deputies will be dedicated to following buses in marked and unmarked cars. He said current funds will be rededicated to the effort, though he didn’t have a definite number.
Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Brian Humphreys said the agency will coordinate with the Kanawha school transportation department to learn which locations and buses need the most watching.
Rutherford noted state law mandates either a fine of between $150 and $500, or up to six months in jail, or both for the first illegal pass. A second offense carries a $500 fine or up to six months in jail, or both, and subsequent violations garner both a $500 guaranteed fine and a guaranteed minimum 24-hour jail sentence that can be extended to six months. Those penalties also include suspension of the person’s driver’s license for a period of time.
The state Department of Education also reported Wednesday results of a pilot program earlier this school year that tested whether 6-foot-long bus-stop arm extensions actually reduce illegal passes.
Lewisville, North Carolina-based Bus Safety Solutions gave 10 extensions each to Kanawha, Cabell and Greenbrier counties.
The department reported that Kanawha saw a 50 percent reduction in illegal passes, Greenbrier recorded a 60 percent drop and Cabell documented a 35 percent decline “compared to data collected on a single day last spring.”
“While we are encouraged by the reduction in passing violations, we also know there is education to be done among our drivers,” said Mike Pickens, executive director of the state Office of School Transportation, in a education department press release accompanying the results. He noted the six times that the extensions, which fold out into adjacent lanes of traffic and contain a second flashing stop sign on the end, were struck in Kanawha since the pilot program began.
Department officials didn’t return the Gazette-Mail’s request Wednesday for more information on the pilot study results.
Jones said Eagle illegally passed the bus in September in what Kanawha transportation officials have said is a common way: heading the opposite direction of the stopped bus on a four-lane highway. Jones said the state’s Driver’s Licensing Handbook gives incorrect information on when people can legally pass a stopped school bus on such highways.
He said the only instance where one can pass a stopped school bus is on highways where the state controls the entrances and exits. He said the interstates and Corridor G are the only such roads in West Virginia.
As to the discrepancy in the manual, Jones said, “the manual is not the law.”
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.