On Tuesday, most students in our area will be heading back to school. In Chesterfield County Public Schools alone, about 45,000 of them. That means more than 500 buses will be out on the roads.
Cecelia Smith, or as the kids call her Miss Cece, will be behind the wheel of one of them. She’s been driving a school bus for the county since 1988.
“When you see that bus, prepare to stop,” she warned.
Smith says this time of year, other drivers need to be alert and remember the rules of the road.
“We’re strapped in. We can’t jump up,” said Smith. “I’ve had to snatch a girl before because I looked in this mirror and a car was coming on this side of me. If I hadn’t snatched her, she would have stepped off right in the limelight of that car.”
Chesterfield County police are stepping up patrols and ticketing drivers who aren’t paying attention. By law, drivers can’t blow by a stopped school bus — it doesn’t matter if you’re behind, approaching or on the other side of the road.
“Any time that the school bus has that red flashing light, that stop sign and that bar that’s extended, they need to stop,” said Mark Younce, a background detective with the Chesterfield County Police Department.
The only time you’re not required to stop is when there’s a barrier or median between you.
And police are looking for offenders.
“We will actually be targeting neighborhoods, school zones, we will be following school buses to make sure people are obeying the law and stopping,” said Younce.
Last school year, Chesterfield County police handed out 31 reckless driving tickets for passing stopped school buses. That’s a class one misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
Younce says the risk of harming someone isn’t worth the rush.
“If you hit that child, those few extra minutes that you save, they’re not going to benefit you,” he said.
Smith agrees.
“I’ve got your son, your daughter, your granddaughter, your niece, your nephew — I’ve got your future on this bus,” she said. “Don’t you want to protect that? Don’t you want to keep it safe?”
The county’s school buses travel about 9 million miles each year. Seventy-five percent of students ride the bus.
