October 6, 2011
California School Bus Illegal Passing Driver Survey
The results of the national survey on illegal passing of school buses have been released. In 28 states throughout the country, school bus drivers recorded in a one-day snapshot how many times other motorists passed their school buses illegally while the buses were stopped displaying their flashing red light signal system and stop signal arms. Approximately 112,000 school bus drivers reported 37,756 total illegal passing incidents, often involving several cars in each incident.
The California Department of Education/Office of School Transportation (CDE/OST) enlisted the industry's participation in this important project on May 4, 2011. Included in the California survey were categories of both illegal passing during a non-escort bus stop and illegal passing during an escort bus stop. Of the 1,037 California public school districts approximately 959 provide home to school transportation. Those districts operate 25,397 school buses daily. A total of 775 schools from 155 school districts provided surveys for the project on May 4, 2011, resulting in a total participation of 6.19%.