We haven’t discussed stop arms and motorists since the Covid-19 virus took over our world.  Here is an update from The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The NHTSA has proposed a collection of information for two studies — one on motorists’ knowledge of laws that prohibit passing stopped school buses and another on stop-arm camera effectiveness.  

The first study would be based on an online survey designed to collect information from motorists across the U.S. to assess their knowledge of and attitudes towards laws regarding the passing of stopped school buses, as well as their opinions on the safest driver behaviors when encountering a school bus on the roadway,

The second study would be a field study conducted in two communities with different levels of camera enforcement laws against passing stopped school buses. The goal of the study would be to examine the effectiveness of an automated school bus camera enforcement system combined with high-visibility police enforcement and public education in reducing school bus passing violations.

The findings from this proposed collection of information will assist NHTSA in designing, targeting, and implementing programs intended to mitigate illegal passing of school buses on the roadways and to provide data to states, localities, and law enforcement agencies that will aid in their efforts to reduce crashes and injuries due to illegal school bus passing.