Springfield, Illinois. As schools throughout the state get ready to start classes again, the Illinois State Police (ISP) is reminding drivers of the speed limits in school zones and the need of sharing the road safely with buses.
ISP warns drivers that in school zones, they must slow down. On school days when children are present, posted school zones are in place from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and have a 20 mph speed limit. It is strictly forbidden to drive while using a handheld cell phone to talk or text, and the penalties are heightened in school zones.
Using sidewalks, crossing the street at marked crosswalks, and avoiding strolling in between cars are all safe walking practices that adults are advised to instill in their children.
Most pupils who are taken to or from school by bus are hurt or killed while they are not on the bus. The majority of children hurt in the danger zone, which is the vicinity of the bus, are hit by drivers who do not halt for the extended stop arm and flashing red lights.
Drivers are required to halt at least 20 feet before they reach a stopped school bus with its visual signals—lights and an extended stop sign—activated. Vehicles in both directions are required to halt until the school bus turns off its visual signals when it stops on a two-lane road. No matter how many lanes of traffic there are on a one-way road, all vehicles must stop when the school bus stops and utilizes its visual signals. Only vehicles traveling in the same direction as the school bus are required to stop when it stops on a four-lane or more-lane road with at least two lanes of traffic moving in the opposite direction.
School buses are required by state law to stop at railroad crossings. You can pass a stopped school bus at a railroad crossing cautiously if you are coming from the other direction. It is illegal to drive over the center line to pass a bus if you are coming from behind, heading in the same direction as the bus, and you are within 100 feet of the railroad crossing.
Failure to stop for a school bus unloading or loading when their lights are on and their stop arm extended is a first-time infraction that carries a mandatory $300 fine and a three-month driving license suspension. You can find the School Bus Safety Brochure on the ISP website’s Traffic Safety Brochures page, which also provides more information about how to safely interact with school buses in traffic.
