Roughly three times per week, Michael Scelza said, he witnesses a passing motorist blow by his stopped school bus while he picks up and drops off students on his route in Hartford.
The veteran school bus driver called motorists’ decisions to disregard his red lights an “ongoing problem,” which not only puts him and other bus drivers in a difficult position, but puts children at risk of injury or death.
“I’ve seen people on computers, people doing their makeup … they just go right through,” said Scelza, who has driven a bus for 16 years. “In the past, I have had a couple of really close calls.”
Some Upper Valley police chiefs said they recently have received complaints about people who aren’t abiding by school bus traffic laws, which are punishable by fines and points in Vermont and New Hampshire. In both states, drivers are required to stop once the bus driver stops and activates the red lights.
The issue even prompted SAU 70 officials to change a bus route along Route 120, also known as Lebanon Street, just south of Storrs Road, to avoid having children cross the thoroughfare to get on the bus.
The topic also may result in the town of Hanover extending a sidewalk along that stretch of roadway to improve overall safety.
“Life is a daily chaos for most families or individuals in general (and) time and lack of attention contribute to this daily battle with ‘red light runners,’ ” said Stacy Emerson, operations manager for Student Transportation of Vermont, which provides bus services in Hanover. “The red light runners have increased significantly over the past few years.”
Janice Starkey moved to 81 Lebanon St. in 2013 and has three children growing up in the Dresden school system. Starkey knows all too well the struggle she and her neighbors have had to go through — up until Monday — to get their children on the bus.
For the past several years, her children and others on the south side of the street have had to cross Route 120 on the sharp corner just south of Storrs Road to board, and Starkey said she has witnessed more than one close call.
She studied the issue closely with Town Manager Julia Griffin, school business administrator Jamie Teague, who doubles as the transportation coordinator, and others to come up with a better solution. Come to find out, Teague said, the stop didn’t adhere to New Hampshire’s best practices for setting school bus stops because of line of sight and other issues.
As of Monday, the district began a new route in that area and now those kids board a bus on their side of the street. The pick up and drop off times are about the same.
So far, so good, Starkey said, noting the situation could go from good to great if Hanover voters at Town Meeting next month approve the municipal budget, which has $123,400 built into it for a 12,080-foot sidewalk extension project from Storrs Road to the Tanzi Tract trail along Route 120.
The implementation of the sidewalk could provide additional bus route options and avoid having kids board the bus on Route 120 altogether, Starkey said.
Instead of having the bus stop several times on that stretch as it does now, which causes traffic backups, children in that area could walk along the new sidewalk to the Ridge Road neighborhood, where a school bus picks children up on a side street. There currently is a sidewalk on the north side of the road.
“My feeling is that this is such a major thruway to get to work that probably no buses should be stopping on the road,” Starkey said. “I know it is irritating for drivers.”
Starkey asked that drivers reflect “on the fact that” they are only “shaving five seconds” off of their morning commute by “gunning it when a bus comes to a stop.”
The issue Starkey and other families in Hanover have witnessed isn’t just limited to Hanover and Hartford.
Last month, a woman in Enfield struck a Mascoma Valley Regional School District student as the girl went to board a school bus at the intersection of Route 4 and Anderson Hill Road. Police said the woman attempted to scoot out of the end of Anderson Hill to get ahead of the bus, which was traveling on Route 4, when she hit the student.
The woman has been cited into court on a negligent driving violation, Enfield Police Chief Richard Crate said.
Crate said that incident was isolated and unique, and said he hasn’t seen an increase in the number of people driving by stopped school buses.
On average, he said, his department receives “a couple” of calls a year about people not adhering to bus laws.
To the contrary, Lebanon Police Chief Richard Mello said he has recently received information that school bus drivers are experiencing ongoing problems with people running through a bus’ lights. There could be a host of reasons why, he said, noting “everybody is in a rush” these days.
His department has partnered with the Lebanon School District to address the issue and has come up with a new way for bus drivers who witness a violation to report situations to police.
There haven’t been any recent close calls to his knowledge.
“All it takes is one person not paying attention to strike a child and a worse-case scenario happens,” Mello said.
Hartford Police Chief Phil Kasten said he has issued citations to two motorists so far this school year for violations, compared to four citations last school year.
His officers have participated in bus ride-alongs and sometimes patrol in potential problem areas or places where citizens have raised red flags.
“There is nothing that’s more important in our travels to and from work … than exercising caution in or around the school bus, even if you don’t see kids,” Kasten said. “It is likely the kids are at or near a curb and you don’t know when they are going to dart into traffic.”
In the problem area on Route 120 in Hanover, Police Chief Charlie Dennis said his department has issued four school bus-related violations since 2014.
Dozens of car crashes have taken place on that stretch between January 2010 and December 2016, he said. Of them, two involved bicyclists and four involved pedestrians.
A 2015 traffic study shows roughly 17,500 vehicles travel each day on that section of roadway.
Teague, the district’s transportation coordinator, said another option the district considered to make that area safer for schoolchildren was installing a camera on the outside of the bus. The district didn’t take that measure though.
Emerson, of Student Transportation of Vermont, said her company, as well as others under Student Transportation of America, are recommending cameras be installed.
“This method does not stop the event from happening; however, it supports the information being submitted to the police department,” Emerson said. “We want to keep our children safe.”
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.