Drivers keep illegally passing stopped school buses. How can Kansas keep kids safe?

Education officials estimate that every day in Kansas, about 1,000 drivers illegally pass a stopped school bus as it picks up or drops off children.

"When a student gets on or off the bus that, we consider that the most dangerous time," said Keith Dreiling, the bus safety director at the Kansas State Department of Education. "Because if they're on the bus, they're protected inside the bus, but as soon as they exit the bus, this is when we're going to have issues."

But with the Legislature not acting on a proposal to help law enforcement crack down on violators of the state stop arm law, the Kansas State Board of Education is pursuing a regulatory change in an attempt to make it safer when loading and unloading a bus.

Legislator: House speaker canceled hearing on a school bus safety bill

In September 2020, 7-year-old Cecilia Graf was killed on her way to school in Abilene. The Dickinson County sheriff said Graf was crossing the street to board her bus, which was stopped with lights flashing, when a 15-year-old high school student hit the girl.

In the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers considered House Bill 2154 to allow cameras on school buses to be used by law enforcement to issue $250 civil penalties to drivers who illegally pass a stopped bus. Educators and law enforcement testified in support, while no one opposed it.

"We do not have any provisions in state law right now that allow for civil penalties to be assessed off of video cameras," said Rep. Scott Hill, R-Abilene. "Other states do that. Kansas has never started doing it."

The bill made it out of committee but never got a vote in the full House. Then in 2022, it again made it out of committee but didn't get a vote in the House.

Hill reintroduced the idea in 2023 with House Bill 2251. It didn't get a hearing last year or this year, and it's now dead because it didn't advance by a legislative deadline.

More: Cameras could be watching you run a school bus stop sign, under proposed Kansas House bill

"I had a hearing scheduled on it, and the hearing got canceled," Hill told the state board in March. "It's taken me a little while to figure out exactly what is going on."

What he found out is "the biggest thing comes back to an invasion of people's privacy, and people are nervous about that."

Hill said House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, decided to cancel the hearing. A spokesperson for Hawkins didn't respond to a request for comment.

"They're not comfortable establishing civil penalties. They need to watch a few more of these videos of people going by buses," Hill said, referring to videos of drivers illegally passing school buses. "A thousand times in a day is shocking."

Hill promised to reintroduce the bill next year, if he wins reelection this fall. In the meantime, Hill suggested that maybe schools could put cameras on buses and then publish videos on Facebook to publicly shame violators.

"I don't know whether this is possible, but in many cases, people being embarrassed on social media might be a stronger deterrent than the $250 that you just pay and it goes away," Hill said. "Maybe there's something we can do. We need to make a bigger deal of this before another child gets hit."

Can state board regulatory change make bus stops safer?

With the Legislature not moving on the camera bill, the state board of education hopes that changing regulations on bus routes and pickup and drop-off areas will mitigate the dangers that children face.

Earlier this month, the board received a proposed amendment to school bus safety regulations. That sets the board up to potentially vote next month on whether to proceed with the formal regulation adoption process.

Scott Gordon, general counsel for the Kansas State Department of Education, said the change would add a requirement that the local transportation supervisor shall, when practical, "avoid establishing stops that would require students to cross any roadway."

That change would make it so buses, if they aren't already, would stop on the same side of the road as where they pick up or drop off the students.

"It mirrors the guidance that we already provide to school districts," Gordon said. "This merely makes it a bit stronger by putting it specifically in regulation."

State board member Jim Porter, R-Fredonia, described it as making sure the bus is stopping in the safest place.

The regulation change would attempt to make a difference in an area that schools can control, but it would not address driver behavior.

"It seems like what we need to be doing is addressing the driver, the adult, the people that are behind the wheel of the car," said state board member Michelle Dombrosky, R-Olathe.

How often are drivers illegally passing stopped school buses in Kansas?

"The most dangerous time for students is when they get on and off the bus," said Dreiling, the bus safety director.

That's in large part due to drivers not stopping for the stop arm.

Every year, the Education Department collects data on school bus stop arm violations. The data is collected on a single day by participating schools.

During the April 2023 survey, 2,857 buses from 223 participating Kansas school districts reported 676 stop arm violations.

That was down from the recent high of 1,040 stop arm violations in 2019, but that year also had far more buses participating and reporting violations.

The 2023 count included 18 cases where drivers passed on the right side of the bus.

"Twenty-eight years as a state trooper I enforced stop arm violations," Dreiling said. "However, until I took this job, I had no idea that we had vehicles passing school buses on the right side."

In 2022, the single-day survey recorded 46 times that drivers passed on the right side of a stopped bus.

"It just scares us half to death that something really bad (could happen), because that's where all the kids are normally before they board the bus," Dreiling said.

New numbers are not yet available for the 2024 survey, which was conducted Wednesday.

Education officials watch videos of stop arm violations

At its March and April meets, the state board watched several videos of stop arm violations.

Dreiling showed a video from Minnesota where a semi passed on the shoulder to the right as a bus stopped outside a house. He said a judge sentenced the truck driver to a year in jail.

"This is a really, really serious subject," said Hill, the representative from Abilene. "And when you saw that video of the semi blowing by, you realize that that was within a few inches of taking somebody's life."

In Kansas, similar bus videos can't be used to fine or prosecute drivers because state law generally requires law enforcement to personally observe a violation. But buses can still record videos.

At the April meeting, Dreiling showed a Sept. 13, 2023, video from Shawnee Heights USD 450 where a bus stops on S.E. 29th Street just west of S.E. Croco Road.

A Ford F-150 then passes the bus as the driver is stopping, its lights already activated but the stop arm not quite outstretched yet. Then, more vehicles continue to pass going in the opposite direction.

In that area, S.E. 29th Street has four lanes of travel plus a turning lane. In that situation, under Kansas law, it is illegal for either side of the road to pass a stopped school bus.

An Aug. 25, 2023, video from Southeast of Saline USD 306 shows a pickup initially stop for the bus with its stop arm out and lights flashing. After about five seconds, the driver proceeds to pass anyway.

"He gets tired of waiting, or whatever," Dreiling said.

Dreiling also showed three videos from Easton USD 449.

One was a Nov. 14, 2023, video in Easton shows children coming out of a house, about to cross a two-lane highway to get on a school bus. Then, a pickup passes two school buses — which was illegal because at least one school bus had its stop arm out and because the highway had a double yellow line.

Leavenworth County sheriff's deputy Justin Green, who is the Easton school resource officer, has found a way to issue citations to violators in some cases. He said the county attorney allows the citations, "As long as I have my body camera on and I get an admission of guilt."

In that November case, Green used the videos to find out who the driver was, called him while recording with his body camera and the driver admitted to breaking the law.

"His excuse was he was about to run out of gas, so that's why he passed," Green said.

He issued three citations to that driver, one for each of the buses he passed and one for passing in a no-passing zone.

"Eventually, they're going to get smart to it and stop admitting guilt," Green said.

'It says stop for a reason'

"We always tell the schools the safety of the student is the most important thing," Dreiling said. "They're transporting our most important resource we have out there, a special cargo, our kids. That's why we always remind them, it's always about the kids and the safety of the kids riding the bus."

Edgar Arroyo, a school bus driver and trainer at Kansas Central Bus Service, told The Capital-Journal that "part of our training is to always make sure that students are OK and there's no threat around them before they load."

As a driver whose Sheldon Head Start route has several stops on Gage and Fairlawn, "I do see that often" where traffic illegally passes his stopped school bus. He likes the idea of a law allowing cameras on buses to allow police to fine violators.

"That'd be awesome," he said. "Because that way, we know that there's something backing us up, and in case something happens."

He also thinks state regulatory changes to bus routes and loading zones could be effective, especially if it would mean picking up and dropping off kids closer to their home.

Zytaya Bush, who walked with her son to a southeast Topeka bus stop, also like the camera idea.

"I think that the traffic cameras will be a great idea for the safety of the kids, the bus and everyone around," Bush said. "Because when cars do not stop when the buses are stopping, it creates a safety hazard."

"I've seen cars pass by buses, I have seen it when the stop sign is out," Bush added, urging drivers who are in a rush to instead leave earlier. "It says stop for reason."

Evert Nelson, of The Topeka Capital-Journal, contributed reporting.

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas won't pass camera bill for drivers passing stopped school buses