Recent Incident Serves As Reminder To Follow Bus Laws

Jaimie Schmitz
jaimie@pitzerdigital.com

​School busses have flashing lights and even a stop sign that comes out to remind people to stop when driving by a school bus. But sometimes that’s not enough, and that creates a dangerous situation.
 
Nebraska law states that when coming upon a bus with the flashing lights, motor vehicles are required to stop. But many different bus drivers have seen first hand, drivers that break these laws.
 
Duane Esau has been a bus driver in E lgin for four years now, and had one of those close calls last week at a volleyball game.
 
“And a Vehicle came past me," Esau recalled the incident.  "I had the red stop light out and the stop sign out and the flashers going and it passed me as I was loading the bus. I did not get the license plate because I was watching the kids so they didn’t run out in front of her, or I would have called her in and turned her in.”
 
Esau has called the cops on vehicles that don’t follow the laws. He says that he doesn’t want it to come to the point of someone getting hurt for people to realize they need to stop.
 
“If there is a bad injury or death, that wakes people up and we don’t want that to have to happen," he said.
 
There are classes for bus driver on this issue, but it doesn’t change what other drivers are doing.
 
“Ive hollered at kids before they have gotten out of the bus that there is someone coming by and I have hollered at them to stop and its really scary," Esau said. "It's really scary. And I think it is something that needs to be addressed.”