Back-to-School Focus: Bus Safety Matters
The month of August means the back-to-school season is officially in motion in Nye County. While this time of year can be exciting for families for many reasons, it is crucial to acknowledge the importance of bus traffic safety with school back in full swing.
“When a bus is stopped, with its stop signs out and lights flashing, you are required to stop and not pass in either direction,” said Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill. “The purpose for that is because kids exit the bus on the right side and sometimes walk around to the front of the bus to cross the street. A driver in a vehicle behind the bus can’t see this happening.”
Sheriff McGill said deputies see injuries when drivers ignore bus traffic safety. He added driving recklessly around buses is a violation of the law and is putting someone’s life at risk.
“There’s going to be a lot more children on the street near bus stops and in school areas,” said Sheriff McGill. “So please drive carefully in these areas.”
The Nye County School District takes many steps to enforce the message of school bus traffic safety.
“Our number one goal is the safety of students,” said Nye County School District (NCSD) Director of Transportation Michael Hush.
Hush oversees all transportation and vehicle maintenance and staff across the district.
NCSD has implemented add-on lights for the fold-out stop signs on buses to help with bus traffic safety. He said these brighter lights make the stop signs more visible to motorists.
“We make every attempt within our budget to make sure that we ie putting every single safety feature possible into the buses so that all students get to school safely and get home safely,” explained Hush.
The Stopfinder app is another bus traffic safety protocol NCSD has incorporated.
The app helps ensure students get off the bus at the correct stop by using ID card scans. When boarding or exiting, students scan their ID cards, and their photo appears on a tablet for the driver to verify their identity. If a student attempts to exit at the wrong stop, the system alerts the driver, allowing them to intervene and prevent the student from getting off too early or at an incorrect location.
“Stopfinder gives parents a way to know if their student has logged on or off the bus,” Hush said. “They can see when the bus is approaching the stop and also when it gets to the school so that the parent has satisfaction knowing that their student has arrived safely.”
Hush added that the app is not exclusive to parents. If a child’s primary guardians want to give access to others, such as babysitters or other relatives, they can grant permission to them.
Hush added that even though many students don’t have an ID right now because of a delay in receiving them, bus drivers can still manually input when a student enters or exits the bus. This allows students to appear on the app even without them scanning their ID.
Similarly, Hush explained that if a student loses their ID, they will not be refused a ride. They will be input manually, instead.
StopFinder is currently only available in Pahrump but is expected to launch at four-day schools throughout Nye County later this year.
“We ran into some issues last year with the app, so for the rural communities north of here, I did not want to roll the app out there until we had it all worked out here,” explained Hush.
Hush said enrollment with the Stopfinder app is not where NCSD had hoped it to be by the start of the school year, but confirmed it is trending in the right direction.
“We’re hoping to get much better participation this year. So far, with the increase we’ve seen, I think we’re on the right track.”
For information about the Stopfinder app, locating bus stops near you, and bus traffic safety visit the transportation section on www.nye.k12.nv.us
If there are further questions, contact NCSD transportation at schoolbus@nyeschools.org
Contact reporter Elijah Dulay at edulay@pvtimes.com
