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Published on Monday, May 17, 2004
in the St. Petersburg Times
Too many drivers tell troopers they did. At school stops, the FHP's flashing lights mean a $130 fine.
It's just after 4 on a recent afternoon, and at his Beverly Hills nursery and garden center, Ray Pateracki Sr. is waiting like always for his grandson's school bus to arrive.
Pateracki sees the bus approaching on County Road 491 and jogs through the Greenery's parking lot to meet 8-year-old Mason, a second-grader at Citrus Springs Elementary School.
The bus' safety lights go on and a bar goes out. Mason comes out, and his grandfather affectionately rubs his head and takes the boy's backpack.
This time, when his grandson's bus stopped, so did the other motorists on the road. There was no problem.
But sometimes, cars keep driving right past the bus, despite the safety stop sign that they are legally obliged to obey. Pateracki worries that a kid might get hurt.
"The lights are going, the bar's out, and it's just like they didn't see it!" Pateracki said.
"You just don't do this."
Pateracki isn't the only one who has noticed the problem. And he isn't the only one who realizes that it could have severe consequences.
Responding to concerns raised by Citrus County school bus drivers, Florida Highway Patrol troopers have been paying closer attention to those who unlawfully drive past school buses stopped to pick up or drop off students.
The FHP has been working with school transportation officials, who compile information from bus drivers and help identify trouble areas, which FHP then targets with patrols.
The effort is specific to Citrus, and since it began in February, troopers have issued more than 20 citations, each of which comes with a $130 fine.
Two came easily on Friday morning. At 8:30 a.m., a school bus going east on State Road 44 stopped at Heart Path in Crystal River for two girls waiting in front of a bedding store.
The red lights came on, and the stop sign went out. But, from the opposite direction, a maroon four-door Toyota Camry and a teal pickup truck flew by.
Off went Trooper Tom Hall, who had been stationed across the street watching for cars driving by that bus and another that came just minutes earlier. Near Sunshine Path, he pulled both vehicles over. "A two-fer!" he said, tickled.
A school bus passed Hall as he was stopped and honked. It meant "way to go!" Hall said.
The driver of the Camry said the sun was in her eyes. But she was westbound and the sun was behind her, Hall noted. The driver of the pickup truck said he didn't see the bus.
"It's difficult for us (to understand) because it's a big, yellow bus with flashing lights - how can you miss it?" said Marilyn Farmer, transportation supervisor for Citrus County schools.
But people do. They're in a hurry, some say. Or in their own little world.
"You can absolutely look in their face and see they never saw you," said Becky Kosmas, of Bus 1793. She has been driving a school bus for almost 18 years.
Or maybe some just don't know what the rules are.
According to the Florida statute on stopping for a school bus, a motorist traveling in the opposite direction of a school bus displaying a stop signal is not required to stop if there is "an unpaved space of at least 5 feet, a raised median, or a physical barrier."
A turn lane does not count, Hall said. Neither do painted barriers, Farmer said.
Even though the end of this school year is near, Hall warned that FHP troopers will be back next school year watching for those who don't stop for school buses.
"It's not forgivable," he said, "and we're going to enforce it."