(Spirit Lake)– The start of school is now less than a week away for most in the area. Along with that comes a reminder for motorists. Kevin Krull of the Iowa State Patrol says we’ll need to be on the lookout for those school buses…
“School buses are going to be on the road, so we just ask people to keep their eyes out for those school bus routes and when those yellow flashing lights come on they’ve got to slow down if they’re meeting that bus. Be prepared to stop. And if you’re behind the bus, you’re going to be behind it for the stop so you need stop 15 feet back, give everybody a chance to see what’s going on around them.”
Krull adds the penalty for violating the school bus arm in Iowa is significant…
“This is one of those violations that will lose your insurance and most insurance companies will put you on high risk, as well as the fact it’s going to be about a $700 ticket.”
Krull adds we also need to get accustomed to using extra caution in school crossing zones, especially in the morning and again later in the afternoon…
“There’s going to be a lot more kids out there, not just necessarily riding the bus, but they’re going to be walking and riding their bicycles, so we need to be patient for that and looking for that. And hopefully those kids have a good sense on their head to be looking for the traffic as well.”
Going back to the school bus stop arm law, Krull says you should think again if you think you can go around a stopped school bus without getting caught. He says pretty much all school buses these days are equipped with cameras that can be used to identify violators.
