School bus lights are for kids' safety

Wahkiakum School District transportation supervisor Calvin Grasseth came to our office late last week with a letter to the editor. The letter speaks to the issue of drivers passing school buses which are showing the red no-passing lights while students get on or leave the bus, an act which endangers the lives of the children.

In the past few months, a half dozen drivers have gone around Wahkiakum school buses which were displaying the red lights and stop paddle, Grasseth said, and he is alarmed at the trend. I've printed his letter below as a guest editorial.

Motorists need to consider how their actions will affect other people, and they need to respect other people.

A few years ago, I was coming home from Portland on a Thursday afternoon and passed the scene where a vehicle had struck a middle school boy who had just descended from a school bus. The boy's body lay on the ground, covered by a blanket. It was a sight I don't ever want to see again.

School bus safety

by Calvin D. Grasseth

Wahkiakum Transportation Supervisor

The safety of a school bus depends on many aspects.

First and foremost, the driver is responsible for the safety of each and every student. The driver has to make decisions at each bus stop on traffic, weather conditions, visibility and the safety of each student loading or unloading. The driver is constantly checking mirrors for any changes at each stop.

When cars approach, the driver has to make a decision about deploying the eight-way warning system. The eight-way lighted warning system is the one all school buses use. All school buses use the same system in the same way. The way the system works is that prior to a designated school bus stop, the driver deploys the amber lights (lights at the highest point on the bus) before coming to a stop. Traffic can slow and proceed with caution at this time.

When the bus comes to a stop, the driver deploys the red lights (lights at the highest point of the bus) and stop paddle, and all traffic must stop a safe distance from the bus. This procedure is used the same way at every stop.

Stop paddle violations are happening at an extremely high number per day. A one day survey of 3,588 drivers in 110 school districts came up with an alarming number of 1,500 stop paddle violations--driving through the red stop light system--in one day.

This endangers each and every student at the bus stop.

In our local area, the violations have been increasing. My goal is to help educate and inform drivers of the immediate need to slow and stop whenever a school bus is in their vicinity. It takes all of us working together to make the school bus transportation system the safest in the world. We transport the most precious cargo in the world, and it is also our future.

Thank you for being part of the solution to keeping our kids safe on the road. Any questions? Please feel free to call my office, (360) 795-3482.