Police advise motorists to use caution around school buses

 WASHBURN, Maine — School has only been back in session a little over  a week for most area communities, but police are already receiving complaints of motorists passing stopped school buses.
“A lot of the complaints come from people trying to get past a bus that has yellow lights flashing. People accelerate to try and beat the bus before it stops,” said Washburn Police Chief Roy Guidry, in a statement on the department’s Facebook page.
Guidry said often the offender “passes the bus as the stop signs and red lights are coming on.”
“The yellow lights are a warning before the stop to let us know there are children ‘somewhere.’ Some of the children are young and could come into the road just at the sight of the bus. We are the adults; we need to be the ones paying attention,” said the chief.
As far as the punitive action taken against the offender, Guidry offered an explanation.
“This is how the system works. We receive a complaint from a driver; we discuss the issue and the nature of the violation with the school. They decide if they want to issue a warning or press charges. We warn or charge the offender. The process goes through our court system,” said Guidry.
“We have charged people with this offense. The outcome from there is out of our hands,” said Guidry, noting, “I can say that I have never had anyone contest one in six years, thus there is no trial.”
Guidry said such incidents don’t have to happen in the first place.
“The bottom line — more important than holding people accountable, which we do, is the fact that this is 100 percent preventable. If we all do our part, no one has anything to worry about,” said Guidry.
“We’ve received several complaints about school buses being passed. This is serious. We all know or have children at school — or at least were one at some time. All it takes is one individual passing the bus while distracted on a cell phone. In one tiny moment a lot of lives can change for the worst if a child is hit,” said Guidry. “There is nowhere in the world you need to be a few seconds or minutes sooner that is worth that risk. Please leave enough time to get where you are going during morning and evening bus times.”
The Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office, on its Facebook page, advises motorists to watch for students walking and riding bicycles to and from school and that it is a crime to pass a stopped school bus with its red warning lights on.