‘Stay behind the bus’: reminders for drivers with school back in session

CHANDLER, AZ — A Chandler resident says he has seen several drivers ignore school bus stop arms recently, making him question whether the law is being enforced.

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“I was being a little bit facetious or sarcastic when I said, ‘Is there a law here?’, I know there is really a law here, we just don’t apply to the law,” Paul Budner said.

Budner is fed up with seeing cars drive past school buses on Pecos near Alma School when their stop arm is out.

“They just keep on going,” Budner said. “What’s going to happen if one of those kids decides to go from that side, move around and all of a sudden get hit by one of these next oncoming cars.”

Chandler Unified School District bus driver Selanhongva McDonald calls that moment gut-wrenching.

“Sometimes it’s a heart-stopping thing, you are looking to see where your children are at to make sure no one is crossing the street at that particular time. You have your hand on the horn to get ready to honk the horn to warn your students, ‘Hey, you need to stop, you need to stop’,” McDonald said.

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When the stop arm is out and the lights are flashing, drivers in both directions must stop. If there is a raised median dividing the road, only cars on the same side as the bus are required to stop.

“Stop before you even get to the bus, you always want to be behind the bus. I’ve seen cars go up to the driver’s window, it’s safer to stay behind the bus,” McDonald said.

Both McDonald and Budner say this law needs to be a priority.

“This has to be recognized as a priority for our young ones who are getting off our buses, our precious future is on our buses here,” Budner said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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