GOODYEAR, AZ — Parents and school district officials in the West Valley want drivers to stop passing around stopped school buses.
Chad Worthman, a parent, waits for his son each day at a stop on Encanto Boulevard in Goodyear.
“Cars are flying by, not even merging or stopping,” Worthman said. He started recording drivers illegally passing the bus every day.
“It’s just scary cause I see a lot of kiddos walk home and that’s all that needs to happen is for someone to not pay attention,” Worthman said.
The law requires drivers to stop behind school buses on both sides of the road when the stop sign is out and lights flashing.
When there’s a divider in the road, drivers on the other side can carefully continue.
Litchfield Elementary School District Director of Operations Erik Stone said the district has received multiple reports of dangerous driving past school buses in recent months.
“Within the last few months, there’s been a couple of routes that have forced us to reach out to local PD,” Stone said. “Maybe it’s become a hotspot or just this road for whatever reason it happened more than normal.”
Stone recommends people call their local police non-emergency number when they see dangerous behavior.
“The importance there is really just abide by that law for student safety because we have kids as young as five years old on a bus and those bodies are little. If someone doesn’t abide by that it could be very dangerous for them,” Stone said.
Drivers who illegally pass school buses can pay hundreds of dollars in fines and get their license suspended.
Goodyear police say they’re currently patrolling the Encanto Boulevard bus stop.