Passing bus drivers can lead to thousand dollar fines, Box Elder County bus driver warns

SALT LAKE CITY — At least twice a day, in and around neighborhoods across the country, school buses can often be seen delivering children safely from home to school and back.

Students have been taught the importance of staying safe around buses and staying within the driver’s line of sight when around the large yellow machines. Unfortunately, one bus driver warns that some people may need to go back to school for bus safety. 

According to Michael Bowen, a bus driver with the Box Elder County School District, approximately 15 cars per week illegally drive past his school bus when he is picking up or dropping off children along US-89 near Willard in Box Elder County.

Bowen and other bus drivers are instructed to turn in drivers who illegally pass their buses to police officers. 

The Utah Department of Public Safety Highway Safety Office warns that it is illegal to pass a school bus that has flashing red lights, with a $1,000 fine and ten hours of community service for first-time offenses.

Additional violations result in increased fines and may include the possibility of jail time on the third offense.

Bowen said he does not want people to be fined for bus safety violations over the holiday season, and stressed the importance of following the law. He said he was not sure if these drivers know how expensive the fines are for passing school buses illegally. 

“When the yellow lights are on,” Bowen said, “the bus becomes a school zone.”

According to the Highway Safety Office, drivers may pass school buses with flashing yellow lights using care and caution at less than 20 MPH.

When school buses have flashing red lights, motorists must stop when approaching a school bus, either from the front or rear, on a road with fewer than five lanes, including the center turn lane.

However, if there is a physical barrier or median dividing the highway, or there are five or more lanes of traffic, including the center turn lane, motorists traveling in the opposite direction of a school bus do not need to stop. Motorists traveling behind the school bus must stop.