The first day of school in area districts is just over a week away, and that means that drivers will need to pay closer attention, especially near school buildings.
Lt. Steve Schwind with the Springfield Police Department reminds drivers that there are laws they must adhere to when they’re following a school bus.
"When the stop arm on the school bus is out and the lights are flashing red, everybody has to stop," he said. "Now, that does vary on the number of lanes of travel. If it's three lanes or less, say you have an eastbound lane, a westbound lane and then the center maneuvering lane, all directions need to stop for the school bus."
If you’re on a street with two lanes in each direction, only those in the lanes behind the bus, traveling the same direction, need to stop.
And Schwind reminds drivers that the speed limit drops to 20 miles per hour around drop off and pick up for a reason.
"That's for the safety of the children," he said. "So, drivers, do slow down. They're not speeding through, and they have more of a reaction time if a child was to run out into the street or something was to happen."
Schwind said drivers must stop for school buses that have their stop arm out.
Springfield Public Schools, SPD and the Greene County Sheriff’s Department have launched a back-to-school safety campaign aimed at educating drivers and keeping kids safe.
"The goal is to, you know, obviously, show that we're going to be out enforcing the school zone speed violations and also the stop arm violations to be out there, be visible and to hold drivers accountable that, you know, violate these laws," Schwind said.
