(Denison) It won’t be long until school buses begin their routes in rural Iowa, busing students to classes.
Iowa State Patrol Trooper and District #4 Public Information Officer Shelby McCreedy reminds motorists about Iowa’s school bus laws. The reminder stems from a complaint from the Mid-Prairie School District, southwest of Iowa City, of a dozen incidents of drivers not stopping for school buses in the past two weeks.
McCreedy said Kayden’s law, passed in 2012, increased the criminal penalties for passing a stopped school bus and the license sanctions for these offenses.
McCreedy said if you are coming at a school bus from the front and the bus driver activates the yellow lights to warn traffic they will be stopping soon, you can still pass the bus. Still, you must slow down to a maximum of 20 mph and be prepared to stop when the red lights are activated. McCreedy said this is completely different if you are following the bus.
Fines can range from 345 to over 25 hundred dollars, including license suspensions and prison time.
