CALDWELL, Idaho β Caldwell Police Department is reporting an unusual increase in school bus stop arm violations this year, with many of the offenders being unlicensed students driving themselves to school.
Officer Tom DeFur, who has been on the traffic team for four years, said this year has brought more cases of cars running school bus stop arms than usual. Many of those violations involve unlicensed, underage drivers taking themselves and classmates to and from school.
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"We're seeing that the violators are unlicensed and not educated in what to do with the bus arms. So they're just going through them or around them," DeFur said.
In one particularly dangerous incident, DeFur said a student went around two stopped vehicles and then zigzagged through traffic to go around a bus stop arm.
During a ride-along with DeFur on Friday morning bus routes, he revealed the scope of the problem. In just one week, he had investigated four stop arm violations with at least one more pending from the previous day.
DeFur explained that the violations often occur when both parents work and purchase a car for their student to drive to school without proper licensing.
"We do have to wait for somebody to show up with a valid license," DeFur said.
The consequences extend beyond traffic citations. Even without a license, people can still be ticketed, and violations can affect their ability to receive a license in the future. Insurance coverage may also be voided in accidents involving unlicensed drivers.
"We're not expecting 12-year-olds to be driving vehicles. So another caveat to that is an unlicensed driver operating a vehicle may void any insurance on that vehicle. The insurance company may not cover any accident or injury related to that driver who's unlicensed," DeFur said.
Fines for running a school bus stop sign can exceed $300, according to DeFur.
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