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DISTRACTED DRIVERS IGNORE STOPPED SCHOOL BUSES WITH FLASHING LIGHTS - Few WV Prosecutions Over Safety Hazard |
| (12/11/2019) |
| Nearly halfway through the current school year, Kanawha County school officials are alarmed by a spike in illegal school bus passes. Motorists around the state are also ignoring stopped buses and their flashing red lights. The increase comes amid what has been a downward trend in bad bus passes near Charleston for the past six years. Illegal school bus passes this year in Kanawha County are estimated at 30 a day up from 13 a day last year. Observers say most of the drivers are likely distracted by electronic devices. They also want to know why only about 50 people got convicted statewide last year of making an illegal pass when there were an estimated 21,000 bad West Virginia passes. “There's a breakdown in it somewhere. It's not from the police officers because we're often contacted by them for video evidence to help prosecute them when they write them. I'm not sure where it occurs,” said Brette Fraley, transportation director for Kanawha County Schools. The numbers county school officials used is 117 incidents a day in West Virginia. “They don't see the bus, kids, lights or anything,” Kanawha County school bus driver Ed Webb said. “Evidently, they're either too concerned with their phone or just not paying attention.” It's a national problem. The national figures are staggering, shaping up to be more than 17 million bad passes this school year. “Yeah, you're sitting there. You've got your red lights on. You've got your stop sign flashing and they just go by like they don't see you sitting there,” Kanawha County school bus driver Mary Slate said. In 2014, when they started tracking the numbers, Kanawha County had an estimated 93 bad bus passes a day. |
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