Several school districts in the Ohio region are bouncing around the idea of additional lights on the rear of school buses that prevent motorists from illegally passing the immobile vehicles while loading and unloading students. Too often people do not understand or are ignorant to the law that you cannot pass a loading or unloading school bus. Pete Japiske, State Director of Student Transportation at the Ohio Department of Education, came up with the idea and is working with highway patrol to implement it. They ultimately decided on flashing red and white LED lights that will be easily seen from behind or next to the school bus. LED lights shine brighter than traditional incandescent light bulbs, so the added lights should be clearly visible and should remind motorists that they cannot pass a stopped school bus. Before the new LED lights are permanently added to all of the vehicles, they are going to be experimented with in several school districts for a period of four months to determine if they actually prevent other vehicles from illegally passing the stopped buses. The lights will be installed just above the bumper on the rear of the vehicle and will activate once the bus is stopped and the stop arm is deployed. The lights are predicted to decrease illegal passes by 60 to 75% because of the height and brightness of the LED lights. Paul Stoneking, director of transportation at Norton City schools, comments on the project: “I can’t attribute it to anything else. The lights are effective because these things are hitting drivers dead on in their eyes. It is so dead on and so dramatic and bright, there is just no way they can’t see it.”
