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Noteworthy Aspects
1. The Clearwater Police Department sought and included a wide variety of partners and some creative ideas in its efforts to make motorists more informed and more aware.
2. Enforcement works. The number of annual citations for illegal
school bus passes increased from 49 the year before the project
to 358 the year of the project. The number of violations reported
by school bus drivers increased from 326 before the project
to 1074 the year of the project.
Lessons Learned
1. Other partners may have budgets that are already set and they may not be able to support your efforts financially.
2. Efforts are more successful with solid partnerships. The schools are a critical partner. The police department worked with the school bus drivers to identify hot spots. They now have a "bus stop hit list" which lists bus stop locations, time, direction of travel, and the best place to observe violations.
3. Roadway design may contribute to the problems. Motorists
believed that multi-lane roads with a shared left lane constituted
a divided highway and thus believed that they didn’t have to
stop for school buses.
Future Plans
1. The Clearwater Police Department will continue addressing the problem of motorists illegally passing stopped school buses. Since the conclusion of the demonstration project, there is no money for overtime. However, the police department is making stop–arm enforcement a regular component of the aggressive driving enforcement campaign.
2. The police department will use e–mail to rapidly collect
school bus drivers’ reports of motorists illegally passing stopped
school buses and will distribute the reports to the appropriate
traffic commanders.
Contact
Lt. Steve Burch
Clearwater Police Department
645 Pierce Street
Clearwater, FL 33756
727–562–4161
Fax: 727–562–4156
sburch@clearwaterpolice.org
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