Intense Focus on Curbing Illegal School Bus Passings Urgently Needed in Next Congress [NSTA Advocacy in Action]

With the turmoil of the upcoming election fully grasping the nation, it is somewhat disappointing to see a lack of tangible legislative activity at the Congressional level. Outside of addressing a continuing resolution to keep the U.S. government running and some committee hearings, there’s very little talk about legislative priorities. But with a keen eye on the presidential and congressional elections later this year, it does give us an opportunity to set the groundwork for future advocacy endeavors.

For those who attended the 2024 NSTA Annual Meeting and Convention (AMC) in Nashville in July, we had several programs that talked about the vital safety aspects of the student transportation system. Our partners at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) presented at the first morning program, with Michelle Atwell and Bridgett Watson both bringing the audience up to date on statistical data from the agency, as well as highlighting NHTSA-based marketing materials specifically geared to our industry.

The agency has been an important partner in moving provisions of the NSTA-led “STOP for School Buses Act” that became law within the confines of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which was signed by President Biden on Nov. 15, 2021. Just as a reminder, on a regular basis, NSTA provides many marketing materials developed by NHTSA in our Membership Minutes, as well as through distribution means at our monthly committee meetings.

Overall, with respect to surface transportation, the IIJA called for a comprehensive federal program for preventing illegal passing of school buses, and it also requires the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. D.O.T.) to review illegal passing laws, penalties and levels of enforcement in all 50 states, various technologies and driver education materials and make recommendations on best practices and most effective approaches. The new law also directs U.S. D.O.T. to implement a public safety messaging campaign designed to draw attention to this problem.

We should continue to highlight that school bus transportation remains the safest form of transportation over all other modes, that according to DOT statistics, and the most pressing problem remains that students are being put in harm’s way by other motorists failing to yield for stopped school buses.

Also at AMC, Ronna Weber from the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) presented the finding from their annual illegal school bus passing survey. The survey utilized 35 states and the District of Columbia with approximately 26.4% percent of the nation’s school bus drivers participating in this one-day endeavor to report motorists who passed their stopped school buses. In the survey, 98,065 school bus drivers reported that 66,322 vehicles passed their buses illegally on a single day during the 2023-24 school year.

If the data is adjusted for 100% of the school bus drivers in the U.S., we would have seen just over 251,000 illegal passings. Projected across a 180-day school year, these sample results point to more than 45.2 million violations per year among America’s motoring public, which was a significant increase from the 43.5 million projected violations seen in the 2022-23 school year survey.

Clearly this problem is not going away, and we must get behind additional measures that will prevent illegal passing of school buses and ensure students are just as safe getting on and off their yellow school buses — as they are riding inside yellow school buses.

In the 118th Congress, Rep. Rudy Yakym sponsored H.R. 3998 - Jackie Walorski Enhancing Necessary Data on Illegal School Bus Passing Act. This bill seeks to bolster the great work we have already accomplished on this issue, and as we see how the chips fall in this November’s election, the bill should become a true focal point for everyone in student transportation — either in the lame duck session or in the 119th Congress.

If you are willing to help, drop me a line at president@yellowbuses.org, and I will get you the information you need to make a difference.