by Dave Reilly
Wautoma Area School District Bus Drivers would like to remind everyone that this week is Operation Safe Stop sponsored by the Wisconsin School Bus Association.
Operation Safe Stop Week seeks to promote school bus safety through education and enforcement efforts. Operation Safe Stop is a cooperative project supported by the Wisconsin State Patrol and Wisconsin School Bus Association. The goal of Operation Safe Stop Week is to proactively educate motorists about the dangers of passing stopped school buses.
In Wisconsin, there are over 13,000 school buses that transport more than 515,000 students to and from school each school day and travel nearly 70 million miles a year.
An estimated 460 motor vehicles illegally pass Wisconsin school buses every day.
Sometimes drivers are not fully alert and pass a stopped school bus. This is a very dangerous situation for the children, especially the younger ones who may not be watching traffic as closely as they should.
Motorists are required to stop at least 20 feet from a stopped school bus that is displaying flashing red lights and stop arm. Each time a motorist violates the school bus stop law, he or she creates a real hazard for the students who are boarding or leaving the bus.
Wisconsin uses an eight-light school bus warning system. The alternately flashing yellow lights mean caution to other motorists because the bus is preparing to stop. The flashing red lights and stop arm means to stop.
Remember that yellow lights mean the bus is going to stop. Motorists need to slow down. Red lights mean students are getting on or off the bus. That means to stop.
Wautoma Area School District is taking great strides to mitigate COVID spread. Students are required to wear masks at all times while riding the bus. Students must utilize hand sanitizer upon boarding the bus. Students must remain in their assigned seats at all times. Buses are sanitized several times throughout the day and deep cleaned once a week.
Please do your part in keeping our students safe by remembering to slow down when seeing a bus flashing its yellow lights. Stop when the red lights are flashing and the stop arm is extended. Together we will deliver our students safely to school and back to home.
