
REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI) — School is in session for some, while others are getting ready to head back. That means school buses will be on the road as well. The Madison School District is reminding drivers is asking drivers to pay attention to their surroundings as they are moving around 3,200 kids every school day.
“We just want the general public to be aware that the school buses are going to be out on the roads delivering our students, and our goal is to get them there as safely as we can. And we want to make sure that they’re watching out for the buses so that students aren’t getting hit or injured,” said Brandon Caldwell, Transportation Director for Mandison School District 321.
One of the biggest issues they are seeing is that people are ignoring a very important sign.
“They run the stop signs. I’ve had that happen several times,” said Les Hill, Driver/Safety supervisor and Trainer.
In 2024, in the Madison school district alone, they had over 100 stop arm violations with cars illegally passing our school buses.
“They’re not only endangering themselves and the public around them, but I’ve got a bus full of kids that I’m responsible for,” said Hill.
Local news 8 did a ride-along on a school bus; we made over 10 stops to see how drivers respond. Local news 8 caught two drivers breaking this rule, and we’re told this was actually a good day for them.
If you run the bus’s stop sign and you think you got away with it, think again.
“Currently, we have about a quarter of our fleet outfitted with stop arm cameras. We currently have 12 brand new buses that we’ve received in the last year, and all of those are outfitted with forward-looking dash cameras out the windshield and stop arm cameras as well on the sides of the bus,” said Caldwell.
The same rules used at stop lights apply to school buses. Yellow means slow down, and red means stop.
As of last year, Idaho increased the fine to $300 for the first offense, but you can’t put a price on a child’s life.
The three main trouble spots they see in Rexbug are Pioneer Road, where they see on average 6 to 8 stop arm violations a day, Highway 33 going out west of town, and then 12th West between Main Street and University.