Each year in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an average of 41 school-age children die in school bus-related traffic crashes -- 11 school bus occupants and 30 pedestrians. To help prevent such tragedies in North Brunswick, your police officers are paying special attention to pedestrian and vehicular traffic around school buses.

Here are some basic safety laws and tips that drivers of school buses and other vehicles should consider at all times:

 

 

• School buses transporting school-aged children must stop at all railroad crossings (New Jersey Statutes 39:4-128).

 

• Note: New Jersey law allows for limited railroad crossing stop exemptions. This is the case with the railroad crossing on Jersey Avenue in the area of the Route 1 interchange.

 

• When loading or discharging children, school bus drivers must signal their intentions with flashing red lights and extended stop signal arms (New Jersey Statutes 39:3B-1).

 

• Vehicles in traffic shall not overtake or pass any school bus stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging children. Drivers may proceed when directed by the bus driver or when the visual signals are no longer activated (New Jersey Statutes 39:4-128.1).

 

For more information about school bus safety, including safety tips for children, visit NHTSA's School Bus Safety page.