Yuba City school bus drivers see red at motorists who don't stop

Even though it's the law, when the red lights start flashing on Yuba City school buses, drivers aren't pulling out all the stops.

For National School Bus Safety Week, local school officials want to draw attention to the safety needs of crossing students and point out it's the law — not a courtesy — for drivers to stop for a bus' red lights whether they see students or not.

Boyd Pyatt, driver instructor for Yuba City Unified School District, said there are several problem intersections where drivers ignore the flashing lights.

"The motoring public continues to go ahead and disregard it," he said. "Until they see a student out there — then they will stop and wait."

Yuba City Unified shuttles nearly 1,900 students to school and back home every school day, and while no children have been hit while crossing from a bus, there have been close calls as drivers ignore the red lights, Pyatt said.

And nearly a year ago, a bus driver was taken to the hospital after a car ran the red lights and struck her as she finished escorting children.

Ken Rosebrooks, who has been driving Yuba City school buses for 12 years, said drivers running the red lights is one of his pet peeves.

"I think it's mostly people not paying attention to what's going on," he said. "They are talking on their cellphones or doing whatever they are doing in the car. It's also ignorance of the law."

Rosebrooks said he has seen just about everybody run the red lights around his bus, from police cars to elected officials to school officials.

"If they are not paying attention to what they are doing, they are liable to hit me or my kids," Rosebrooks said. "You never know what's out there in the road."

The amber lights that start flashing as a bus pulls close to a stop are just like yellow lights on a traffic signal, said California Highway Patrol Officer Carlos Lejarza.

"Yellow doesn't mean you accelerate and race through. You are not going to speed up and pass the bus," he said. "Treat red lights as a red light in both ways. You have to stop behind the bus, or if a vehicle is approaching in the opposite direction, stop that way."

Lejarza, the CHP's school safety pupil officer, receives letters from school bus drivers weekly with license plates and descriptions of vehicles that run the red lights. Because an officer did not observe the infraction, a ticket cannot be issued, but Lejarza sends letters reminding the registered owner of the vehicle of the law.

If a pattern is noticed in a certain area, a traffic unit may be sent out for enforcement, he said. Not obeying school bus signals is akin to a red-light violation.

Several intersections in Yuba City seem to attract red-light runners, Pyatt said. Lincoln and Portola Valley roads,

and Hazel and Walton avenues are locations where drivers blatantly break the law on a regular basis.

Yuba City Unified has been running a test this week to escort high schoolers across the street, even though it's not legally required. But it could turn into a policy.

"School bus drivers are the safest vehicles on the road," Pyatt said. "Those of us in the industry, we feel we carry the most precious cargo. Our first concern is always student safety."

Getting off the bus Thursday, Yuba City High School freshman Jovuan Bragg said drivers mostly ignore the flashing lights and the pop-out stop sign, which makes it difficult to cross the street.

"If you go to cross the street, you have to peer out like this," he said, craning his neck to look up and down Lincoln Road. "People don't stop. They have no respect for the community and the kids."

California mandates kindergarten through eighth-grade students be escorted across the street, so they have the security blanket of trusting the bus drivers telling them when it's safe, said Rosebrooks, but he always keeps an eye out for the high schoolers and warns them to watch for traffic.

He urges drivers to be aware of their surroundings and concentrate on their driving skills.

"If they see a school bus, there is up to 84 kids on the bus, so please watch out and give us courtesy as we need it so we can get them home safely or to school safely," Rosebrooks said. "They are our future so we need to take care of them."

CONTACT reporter Ashley Gebb at 749-4783.