GREENWOOD, Ark. — If you're driving down Highway 71 in Greenwood after school now, you'll probably see Sebastian County Sheriff's Office deputies lining the road. That's because they're working to educate and prevent drivers from not stopping when a school bus is stopped and dropping off kids.
The Greenwood School District brought the issue to the county's attention. They've been seeing an increase in drivers who are passing school buses on the highway when they shouldn't be since the beginning of the school year. Deputies are now heavily focused on the areas around Highway 71.
"The children are dropped off on a highway that the speed limit is 55 miles an hour," said Captain Philip Pevehouse with the Sebastian County Sheriff's Office. "We were in contact with them from the beginning of school, and they had some violations. And once we hear that, then we begin to come up with planning to take action."
With such a high speed limit, compared to most neighborhoods where the speed could be around 15-20 mph, he said it's all about being careful.
"Children may actually cross the road in front of the bus, and there would be almost no way to be able to see a child in front of a bus that flat object in front of you until it was too late," Pevehouse said.
Pevehouse said Arkansas law varies on who needs to stop in this situation, depending on the road.
"Everything on the side of traffic of the bus does have to stop. If there was no median, then all traffic lanes would have to stop on either side of the road," Pevehouse explained. "Deputies will seek to pull them over in a traffic stop, and then we will be writing citations for a violation of the rules of the Arkansas traffic law when it comes to school bus safety."
He said besides stopping for the red flashing lights, there's other things drivers need to be cautious of.
"If there's a yellow school bus in front of you and the red lights come on, you need to stop, or at least slow down and watch for children," Pevehouse said. "Even if it has no activation lights on, which are always mounted on the top, just drive slowly. Even if you're near a bus. You know children are present."
Deputies will continue to patrol the area after school for the rest of the year.
"When mom and dad put them on the bus, mom and dad have a reasonable expectation that when the bus stops again, their child's coming home safely," Pevehouse said.
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