RICHMOND, Va. -- It's pretty basic driver's ed that passing a stopped school bus loading or unloading students is illegal, yet it is happening at an alarming rate, in Richmond and elsewhere.
A video from May 9 shows a heart-stopping incident where an RPS student was nearly hit by a dark-colored SUV that changed lanes and sped past a stopped school bus. It happened on Richmond Highway, and the student was not physically hurt.
"Certainly a visceral reaction, as a parent myself, to have that come so close to a pedestrian, especially a child," said Dana Fox, the Chief Operating Officer for RPS. "Certainly it was frustration because it really didn’t need to happen.”
Richmond Police said the driver was cited for the violation and faces a $250 fine for the first offense.
BusPatrol is the company that operates the stop-arm system for RPS. Since September 1st, 2022, the company said their technology has detected 8,353 stop-arm violations in the city of Richmond. But Richmond is far from the only concern; BusPatrol has detected 40,000 violations in Virginia this school year, even though they currently partner with just a handful of school districts.
"It’s really an epidemic that we see around the country," said Steve Randazzo, the Executive Vice President of BusPatrol. "We’re moving away from the phrase accidents and moving toward the phrase crashes because accident almost kind of let the motorist off the hook for making a conscious choice to be distracted, for speeding, for blowing past a school bus.”
BusPatrol uses A.I. technology to scan video from school buses to detect violations. That evidence is then sent to RPD, and an officer determines whether or not to issue a citation.
Every single Richmond school bus is equipped with the BusPatrol technology, both RPS and the company said, so if a driver passes an RPS bus while its loading or unloading, the violation will be caught on camera.
"When we have negligence and folks are just speeding through stopped school buses, there’s no way to train your child for that, other than to be mindful," Fox said. "It really is the responsibility of the driver to know the law of the road and be mindful of our kids out there and anyone on a school bus. It’s imperative, and it is a matter of life or death.”
For those who might need to brush up on the laws here in Virginia, here is a verbatim copy from Virginia DMV:
Drivers are required to follow certain laws when encountering a school bus. Virginia motorists must:
- stop for stopped school buses with flashing red lights and an extended stop sign when approaching from any direction
- remain stopped until everyone is clear and the bus moves again
- stop whenever the bus is loading or unloading passengers, even if the lights and stop sign are not activated
If a school bus is on the opposite side of a median or barrier, motorists aren’t required to stop; however, drivers should be prepared for students exiting the school bus and crossing into their lanes.
