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SEARCHWNCN reminds motorists about North Carolina’s law on stopping for school buses. A reporter confronts a stop-arm runner to ask why she did it.
WNCN ran a story reminding motorists about North Carolina’s law on stopping for school buses. Stock photo courtesy REI
RALEIGH, N.C. — With the start of a new school year, local news station WNCN has brought back its #Brake4Buses school bus safety campaign.
On Monday, the media outlet ran a story reminding motorists about North Carolina’s law on stopping for school buses that are loading or unloading students.
For the piece, a WNCN news crew staked out a school bus stop and then followed a driver who ran the bus’ stop arm. When the driver stopped, the reporter approached her to ask why she didn’t stop for the bus.
WNCNlaunched its #Brake4Buses campaign in 2014 after the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction reported that more than 3,000 motorists had illegally passed school buses in a one-day count.
The statewide count conducted this year again identified more than 3,000 stop-arm violations in one day. That was part of a national effort that tallied more than 74,000 violations.
In addition to public awareness efforts, North Carolina has taken other steps to bolster student safety at school bus stops, including the use of stop-arm cameras. Also, the state now requires all school bus drivers to use a hand signal to let students know when it is safe to cross the street in front of the bus.
In North Carolina, more than 13,000 school buses transport nearly 780,000 students to and from school each day. For more information on pupil transportation in the state, go to www.ncbussafety.org.
Watch WNCN’s latest #Brake4Buses piece below.
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