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DRIVERS STILL PASSING STOPPED SCHOOL BUSES

By Wilson Brown/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Tuesday, December 20, 2005 8:05 AM CST

Many Pine Bluff drivers are still passing stopped school buses in the city, even after the Legislature passed a law this year authorizing more severe fines and punishments for any drivers caught passing a bus.

Named Isaac’s Law after Benton fourth-grader William “Isaac” Brian, who was fatally struck by a car while getting off of his school bus last year, the law imposes heftier fines for anyone caught passing a stopped school bus.

Tiffany Nix, the woman who hit Brian, will spend one day per year in prison over the next 10 years after pleading guilty to manslaughter last week.

However, the higher fines and stricter criminal charges haven’t had an effect on Pine Bluff drivers, one local bus driver said.

“Several cars passed me the other day on 28th and Maple,” said George Barnes, who’s driven buses for the Pine Bluff School District for the past three years.

“It happens every day. Morning and evening,” he said. “Pine Bluff has not gotten the message on it.”

Barnes’ supervisor agrees.

“It’s getting worse,” said Lester Johnson, director of transportation services for the Pine Bluff School District.

Under the new law, Barnes and other bus drivers are also required to write up reports of any vehicles that pass them as they let children on or off the buses.

The drivers then hand over the reports — some of which include the vehicles’ tag numbers — to their supervisor, who then gives a copy of the reports to the Arkansas State Police and the prosecuting attorney’s office.

“That’s the only tool we have right now,” Johnson said.

“I’m just curious how many tickets they’ve written this year,” Barnes said about the Pine Bluff Police Department.

The number of traffic tickets Pine Bluff police wrote over this year for passing school buses was not available by press time.

“My complaint is the police can’t be everywhere, but they can give citations,” Barnes said. “I had a kid almost get hit at 29th and Locust. I had to blow my horn.”

Tickets can’t be issued on hearsay, explained Lt. Bob Rawlinson, a spokesman for the Pine Bluff Police Department.

“We’ve got officers at the schools at different times,” he said. “They’ll do that if they see it. But they can’t follow the buses around.”

Barnes maintains that officers need to be more visible on the streets during the morning and afternoon rush hours.

Passings occur at “every intersection” in the city, Barnes said, but are especially bad at 27th Avenue and Locust Street, 28th Avenue and Locust Street and 30th Avenue and Locust Street.

Most of the passing drivers are using cell phones as they pass the stopped buses, he said.

Barnes said he’s afraid nothing substantial will be done about the situation until a child is injured.

“I don’t see any progress being made,” he said. “They’re my responsibility.”

“I’m saying that the law won’t pay attention until someone gets hurt.

“I’m not trying to cause a stink at the police department, but I don’t want someone to get hurt.”

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