In early October, County 10 reported that local law enforcement agencies were experiencing several cases of motorists driving past stopped school buses while they were dropping children off.
During the first few weeks of school, on average, it was happening roughly once per school day in Fremont County. And, that number only included incidents that were reported by or to law enforcement.
That percentage has appeared to decrease slightly, unfortunately, it is still occurring commonly in November.
The problem has prompted the Riverton Police Department to issue a more “proactive and aggressive” approach.
Riverton Police Chief Eric Murphy issued the following statement Tuesday:
Effective immediately the Riverton Police Department will be taking a more proactive and aggresive approach to enforcing school bus drivebys. Currently our normal patrol officers and School Resource Officers handle school bus red light infractions as part of their normal duties as well as the bus garage who sends us video of drivers who fail to stop for the school bus red lights. I recieve the email and forward to patrol officers for followup and citations to be issued. I feel that the Riverton Police Department needs to put our childrens safety above the normal and routine and so we will have extra officers before and after school hours working overtime
to proactively enforcing the law and dealing with the drivers who fail to stop for red lights on our school buses in an effort to protect the children of this community.
As a reminder, when a school bus is stopped with flashing lights and/or stop signs deployed, you are required by law to stop for the bus in both directions of travel.