Safety in school crossings has been a contentious subject as of late as some parents and drivers for school buses aired grievances regarding drivers on the Sterling Highway in and near Soldotna not following proper procedures for stopping when a school bus is picking up or dropping off students.
Lt. Duane Kant for the City of Soldotna tells KSRM that when buses are stopped on the five-lane highway portion of the Sterling Highway, drivers don’t stop when the stop sign is illuminated:
“Folks on the Sterling Highway passing school buses that are stopped to pick up students when they have the red lights going and the arm is out. They’re not passing on the same side as the school bus, but like if the bus is on the northbound side of the highway, they are on the southbound traffic and a lot of them aren’t stopping even though they are required to because, although the highway is five lanes wide in that area, it’s not divided by a physical divider, so they are required to stop.”
Kant said:
“The reason the complaint came to my attention specifically is because I know one of the local bus drivers and he makes a stop directly across from the police department every morning. It happens quite frequently. He asked me if I could sit out there and stop some of these folks and I sent one of my guys out to do it and he saw a half a dozen cars do it that day. I think he stopped one and we went and stopped one the next day. I mean, obviously we can’t do it every day. I’m more interested in education than being punitive.”
Traffic law indicates that a driver that approaches a school bus stopped on a highway from any direction needs to stop when its red lights are flashing and can only proceed when the flashing lights no longer are illuminated.