Osceola County school bus drivers deal with stop

Jun 06, 2023

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School bus drivers in Osceola County are working to bring awareness and reduce the number of stop-arm violations they see every day.

On Wednesday, WESH 2 Traffic Anchor Meaghan Mackey rode along with a school bus driver in Celebration and witnessed firsthand the number of stop-arm violations drivers are making.

For the morning bus route, Nardelly Guarin caught 10 drivers on her camera illegally passing her school bus when the stop arms were down.

Guarin and all the other bus drivers in the district participated in a national survey on Wednesday to document the number of stop-arm violations they had in one day.

Last year, the district reported 439 incidents in a single day during the survey.

"People never respect the lights. Unfortunately, in the past, we had a lot of problems with that," Guarin said.

Most of the school buses in the school district of Osceola County are equipped with cameras to catch drivers violating the stop-arm laws.

For a first offense, if you're caught, the minimum fine is $100.

"This is a big deal because we have to hold our community members accountable for when they are near a school bus because it could be a major traffic hazard if they drive past the bus when they're loading and unloading students because you don't know where they're going to be crossing the street," said Zachary Downes with the Osceola County School District Transportation Services.

"Every day, I see no less than five cars cross every single day, especially in the big streets like U.S.-192," Gaurin said.

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