TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Twin Falls County Sheriff's Department is reminding residents to stop for school buses when the red lights flash.
Even with the flashing red lights, many drivers still fail to stop for school buses, according to Sgt. Ken Mencl with the Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Department.
“Last week, one of our school districts in Twin Falls County reported they had seven stop arm violations within a timeframe of about three days,” said Mencl.
It’s important driver’s aren’t distracted and are paying attention. When the yellow lights flash, make sure you are slowing down and ready to stop once you see the read lights.
“When that bus is stopped and children are embarking or disembarking from the bus that’s some thing we need to just be very cautious about,” said Mencl.
Law enforcement takes these violations seriously and continues to hold drivers accountable.
“We will be following school buses trying to find those who are violating the stop arm, especially on bus routes where it’s problematic which happens on your busier roadways like Highway 30, Addison Avenue, and trying to see what we can do to curb those violations from happening and get those to stop,” said Mencl.
Some buses have cameras, that allow law enforcement officers to identify license plate numbers.
“A lot of our school buses in the county have stop arm cameras, so when the school bus driver is out on their route and they come to a stop there is a video camera attached to the side of the bus near the stop arm that is recording and captures that violation,” said Mencl.
Those caught, won’t get off easy.
“We, along with so many other agencies, value our children and their safety. There aren’t any warnings that are issued with that. If we observe a violation of a school bus stop arm we are going to issue the citation,” said Mencl.
