Sheriff To Crack Down On School Bus Stop Violators

By Gordon HopkinsThe Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has seen an uptick in complaints about people ignoring the stop signs on school buses.According to Nebraska law, when a school bus stops for passengers, all traffic from both directions must stop. The exception is on a highway of four lanes or more when there is a median divider or continuous center turning lane. Then, only traffic going in the same direction as the bus must stop.Jefferson County Sheriff Nick Georgi discussed the matter at a recent meeting of the Law Enforcement Committee.“We’re working on the buses lately. That’s been a big issue lately. So, we’ve really been getting them before and after school and then preschool. Lots of driving through and around the arm.”School buses typically have an arm with flashing lights and a stop sign. When the bus is stopped and that arm is extended, that is a signal to motorists that the bus is letting students on or off.“I stopped a car Thursday morning during preschool drop off,” said the sheriff, describing one especially egregious violation. “The school bus was stopped. I was parked behind the school bus on the curb. And they went, with red lights out, stop sign out, went around me and the school bus.”The sheriff said, “They just assumed they’re going to be there a while, so they decided it was okay to go around.”The sheriff’s office has been issuing warnings as a result of the increase in violations, “So, if they haven’t been stopped before, we’re warning to get the awareness out. But we can look up in our system, you know, they can warn for it. So, if they’ve had a warning, then they get cited. And we had some people get to that level.”The fine for violating a school bus stop is $500.

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