School Bus Safety Group Targets Illegal Passers of School Buses

ALBANY, NY (05/04/2010)(readMedia)-- The New York Association for Pupil Transportation joined forces with State legislators today to call for an end to the dangerous practice of passing stopped school buses.

John McCormick, President of NYAPT and Transportation Supervisor in Riverhead Central School District, noted "Enough is enough. There are 2.3 million children who are put in harm's way every time a motorist decides to pass a school bus that is stopped with its red lights flashing. We cannot continue to expose our children to that kind of danger of injury and even death because drivers can't take the time to stop for the school bus!"

In response, NYAPT called today for passage of legislation that would increase the penalties for illegal passing, create a crime of vehicular manslaughter for individuals who kill a child in the act of passing a school bus, allow for tickets to be written to the registered owner of the car that passed a stopped school bus and create a dedicated education fund to increase public awareness about school bus safety and illegal passing.

NYAPT today is calling on the State Senate and Assembly to enact the following legislation:

A.10240/Cusick-S.6818/Foley Creates a crime of Vehicular Homicide when an individual takes the life of a child under the age of 15 in the act of passing a stopped school bus, increases penalties for illegally passing a stopped school bus three times in three years, and allows for suspension of a driver's license for 60 days as a penalty for illegally passing a stopped school bus

A.4054/Gantt-S.1244/Hassell-ThompsonEstablishes a dedicated fund for motorist education from the fines collected from convictions of violations of Section 1174 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law (illegal passing)

A.7778/RiveraAllows for a ticket for violations of Section 1174 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law to be written against the individual to whom a vehicle is registered, and to use photographic evidence to prosecute illegal passers

"Keeping New York's schoolchildren safe is a top priority for myself, as well as the rest of the legislature," said Assemblyman Michael Cusick. "Failing to stop when children are boarding or departing a school bus is dangerous and irresponsible, and we hope that by creating stiffer penalties for this dangerous behavior it will create a safer environment for our state's children."

McCormick added: "The problem of illegal passing is rampant in New York State. School bus drivers across the state will attest to being passed more frequently now than in previous years. We encourage the Legislature to act on these bills so that our children can be safer on their way to school and home each day. We urge all parents in the state to unite behind us on addressing this very serious problem."

NYAPT Executive Director Peter Mannella noted: "We have operated demonstration projects in four locations in the state using sophisticated digital license reader technology. The results in all four locations upheld our estimate that there are over 50,000 illegal passes in our state each school day. These bills respond to different aspects of the problem and perhaps save the life of a child as a result. We thank Assembly Members Gantt, Cusick and Rivera as well as Senators Foley and Hassel-Thompson for their insight and leadership in sponsoring and advocating for these bills."

NYAPT members came to Albany on May 4th to advocate passage of this package of legislation as well as to advocate for budget action related to school transportation services and for legislation to enhance the screening of school bus driver candidates.

The overall NYAPT Legislative agenda can be found at www.nyapt.org under Advocacy and Legislative Affairs. For further information on these issues or about school transportation in general, contact NYAPT at 518-463-4937 or go to the NYAPT website.