It’s a little difficult to miss a large, yellow vehicle with flashing red lights and a stop sign extended from a mechanical arm. But each year some 50,000 motorists in New York ignore the law and drive by school buses that have stopped – red lights flashing – to pick up or drop off children.
That point was made by New York State Trooper Major Gerald Meyer during an October 11 press conference at Niskayuna High School to kickoff this year's Operation Safe Stop.
Sen. Hugh Farley, Executive Director for the New York Association for Pupil Transportation Peter Mannella, Superintendent of Schools Kevin Baughman, transportation directors from several local school districts, Town Supervisor Luke Smith and law enforcement officers attended the press conference.
On Wednesday, Oct. 12 during Operation Safe Stop, local, regional and state law enforcement agencies will be on the lookout for drivers who ignore the flashing red lights of stopped school buses. Some officers will follow buses, while others will be stationed along routes identified as problem spots.
This annual statewide program is designed to raise awareness among drivers that it is never OK to pass a school bus that has stopped to pick up or drop off children.
“School buses are yellow for a reason – to send a message to drivers that the cargo on board is very valuable,” Meyer said.
New York Association for Pupil Transportation Executive Director Peter Mannella said that every day across the state, school bus drivers, bus attendants, technicians and dispatchers take steps necessary to ensure the safe transportation of 2.3 million children to and from school.
Despite these efforts, Mannella said, during the past two years 69 children have been injured and two children in the state have died as a result of motorists illegally passing buses.
“There is one factor we cannot control – we cannot make the motoring public stop for school buses – that decision is up to them,” he said.

Here are the rules:
If the yellow lights on a bus are flashing, slow down, the bus is preparing to stop. If the red lights are flashing, you must stop. It's the law. The red lights indicate the bus is stopped to load or unload students.
Drivers must always stop for school buses, even:
• on the opposite sides of divided highways,
• on multiple lane roadways,
• in parking lots,
• on school grounds,
• while approaching the school bus from the front or overtaking it from the rear.
Penalties for illegally passing a school bus are serious and range from fines of $250-1,000, to points on your license and/or jail time.

(October 2006)