Today marks the first day back to school for students in the West Shore School District.  Welcome back students!

The Fairview Township Police Department wants to remind motorists of their responsibilities when they encounter a school bus on the road.  The attached picture from PENNDOT provides a graphic representation of when motorists must stop in relation to a school bus.

When a motorist encounters a school bus with it's amber/yellow lights activated, they may proceed with caution but should be prepared to stop.  This is not a time to accelerate in an effort to pass the bus before the red lights come on.  When the bus has it's amber lights activated, it is approaching a bus stop where there are likely children present.  Caution must be used.

When a motorist encounters a school bus with it's red lights activated, they must stop unless the lane they are in is physically divided with a barrier from the lane that the bus is stopped in.  Fairview Township has no local roads that are separated by a physical barrier, so if you encounter a school bus you must stop. 

The most misunderstood portion of this law involves intersections.  If the school bus is stopped at an intersection, traffic on all intersecting roads must stop.  If the bus is stopped just prior to the intersection, you may not pull through the intersection while the bus has their red lights activated regardless of where the children are.  This includes turning right in front of the bus.  Note, the bus will not physically block the intersection in most cases because the bus stop is not in the middle of the intersection.  You must stop and wait for the bus to deactivate their red lights.

A violation of this law carries a $250 fine, 5 points on your driver's record, and a 60 day license suspension.

The Fairview Township Police Department takes school bus violations very seriously and will enforce this law aggressively.  It involves the safety of our children.