High Number of School Bus Stop Violations Surprises Lakeville Police

Lakeville is like most communities in that there are school buses traveling on our streets and roadways, taking our children back and forth to school every morning and afternoon. Most motorists don’t think about school bus safety until they see the bright flashing lights or the extended stop arm as the bus driver prepares to pick up or drop off students.

Fortunately most motorists use due caution around school buses and crashes around school buses are very rare. This week however our officers did respond to a crash that occurred when a vehicle that had stopped for a school bus stop arm was rear ended by another vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. Fortunately, the school bus was not involved in the crash, but there were minor injuries to the occupants of the two cars that were involved in the crash.

What has surprised me was to learn how many times drivers actually violate the school bus stop arm, when school buses are stopped preparing to load or unload students. Recently, Traffic Officer Nic Stevens was following a school bus and stopped and cited three motorists for violating the extended stop arm in a relatively short period of time. Every driver violating an extended school bus stop arm is potentially putting those children getting on or off the bus in danger.

Often times, drivers who are stopped for this violation say they didn’t see or notice the extended stop arm or flashing lights on the school bus. It is hard to imagine a more distinctive vehicle on the road, in color or shape than a school bus. I think that many times drivers lose their focus and become easily distracted while driving.

Keeping focused on driving and using due caution around a school bus is the responsibility of every motorist on the road. When approaching a school bus from either direction in your car, it is important to reduce your speed and remain alert. Stopping your vehicle a safe distance from the bus when the stop arm is extended and the warning lights are flashing will give you a good view around the bus, where children may be walking. In traffic safety, the number one safety device is always the caution and care of the driver.

Weekly LPD Snapshot

Sampling of activity for the week of April 6 to April 12, 2012

Traffic crashes 9, Alarms 17, Animal Calls 32, Medical Emergency Calls 33, Thefts 19, Traffic Stops 277

A Matter of Degree

Officer Doyle Cockrell stopped a motorist for speeding on Interstate 35 one day this week. Officer Cockrell had clocked the speeding vehicle with the squad radar at 115 MPH, or about 45 MPH over the posted 70 MPH speed limit. When Officer Cockrell walked up to the vehicle, he advised the driver why he had stopped the vehicle and that he had clocked vehicle at 115 on his radar. The driver responded that they thought they were only going about 95 MPH. Officer Cockrell issued the driver a citation for the speeding violation.

Honest People Are Still Out There

As a police officer, after a few years of responding to many calls of seeing people at their worst, it would be easy to become cynical, but then you see an example of outstanding honesty in someone as in this case.

Sergeant Steve Klehr started out one notation in his daily patrol night shift report with, “honest people are still out there”. Sergeant Klehr explained that Officer Tom Danielson was on patrol when he was flagged down by a pedestrian in the parking lot of Antlers Park. The individual turned over to Officer Danielson a wallet containing almost $200 in cash and a set of keys that he had found on a picnic table in the park. Officer Danielson subsequently located the owner of the wallet and keys and returned them to him. The owner of the wallet told Officer Danielson that nothing was missing from the wallet and all the cash was in the wallet.

Dumb Criminal of the Week

Officer Tom Stewart responded to a trespassing report of trucks “four wheeling” in a large wooded area one night this week. Upon his arrival, Officer Stewart saw a large four wheel pickup truck drive into the wooded and swampy area. Officer Stewart walked into the wooded area with assisting officers and located the errant four wheel pickup truck stuck in a pond, sunk up to the floor boards. The two occupants of the stranded four wheel truck told the officers they saw the squad arrive and attempted to elude the officers by driving through the swampy area where they became stuck. The truck was towed out of the pond and the two subjects were cited for trespassing.