Full Notification

On April 18th, the Town of Chester Police Department will participate in Operation Safe Stop, which is a statewide effort to promote school bus safety. Operation Safe Stop is a program supported by the school transportation industry, law enforcement agencies and the New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee. The goal is to reduce the incidence of illegal passing and to increase the enforcement and awareness of this law to protect our children.

Section 1174 of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law requires that all motorists stop for school buses loading or unloading children and have their red lights flashing. Despite this law, more than 50,000 motorists each day illegally pass stopped school buses and cause injury or increase the risk of injury to children who are either getting on or off their school bus.

During this initiative, officers from the Town of Chester Police Department will be patrolling on select roadways that have a history of illegally passed school buses. The police department has worked with the three local school transportation departments who provide service in the town to identify “hot spots”. Motorists who are found in violation of this law will be ticketed and face both fines and up to five (5) points on their driver’s license.