Just as children are heading back to school, a new study has shown an alarming number of Washington drivers are illegal passing buses that are stopping to pick up or drop of K-12 students.
Washington state participated in a nationwide survey put on by the National Association
of State Directors of Pupil Transportation, which revealed that more than 1,500 cars illegally passed school buses on a single day during May of this year. Even more unsettling, the bus drivers surveyed reported that 32 cars passed them on the right-hand side, where children board the bus.
Washington’s figure on illegal passing puts us in the middle of the pack amongst other states the surveyed a similar number of buses. We performed better than states like Maryland (3,393), but worse than others like Ohio (1,170). California posted the greatest number of recorded illegal passings (30,634) but also had the most buses participating in the survey. The full data is available here.
According to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington’s figures would suggest that a staggering 550,000 school bus passing violations occur every year. You can read their full press release here.