Teton School District warns drivers to stop for busses
JACKSON, Wyo. (KIFI/KIDK)-A new law will give the Wyoming Department of Transportation and Wyoming Highway Patrol a new tool to enforce school bus stop-signal violations.
Under current law , drivers who are seen by an officer failing to stop for flashing school bus lights can be fined $435. But the Wyoming Legislature upped the ante. A subsection of the statute allows law enforcement to ticket the registered owner of a vehicle who is identified by video $195, regardless of who is driving the vehicle. So an officer does not have to actually see the violation to ticket the registered owner.
The Teton County School District says its busses are equipped with cameras to identify violators. Locally, the school district added, drivers cited for speeding in a school zone can pay fines ranging from $110 to $360.
The Highway Patrol offered the following primer:
If you're driving on a two lane road, regardless of which direction you're heading, when the school bus activates its red flashing lights, you are required to stop. You must stop before reaching the school bus and remain stopped until the red lights are turned off or the bus continues driving down the road.
If you're driving on a four lane road, regardless of which direction you're heading, the same rules apply and you are still required to stop. Again, you must stop prior to where the school bus is stopped, and you remain stopped until those red lights turn off. In addition, drivers are required to stop in both directions on a five-lane roadway with a center turn lane.
The only circumstance where you are not required to stop for a school bus is if you're traveling on a divided highway or frontage road, you're traveling in the opposite direction, and there's an actual physical barrier separating your lanes from the lanes the school bus is in. This barrier can be a concrete divider or a grassy median. But even though you're not required by law to stop in this situation, you should still use extreme caution as you drive by. Slow down and expect to see children.
