2012 National Stop Arm Violation Count

Introduction

While school buses remain incredibly safe, we all know that students who ride buses are most vulnerable when they are outside the bus in the “danger zone.”  In Portland many state directors attended a panel discussion on Loading Zone Safety where we discussed the problem and the various contributing causes and potential solutions.  As a result of that discussion, NASDPTS passed a resolution to coordinate the first national survey to determine the prevalence of illegal passing of school buses.  Using that data as a starting point, we may then be able to develop and promote improved safety countermeasures at the state or national level.

Announcement

NASDPTS is requesting that each state choose a single day on which to have school bus operators (public and contracted) observe and report any instances of motorists illegally passing their school buses.  We want to begin assembling the data in June, so please try to conduct the survey on a state-designated, representative school day from March 1 to May 31, 2012. Here is the NASDPTS Resolution directing the effort.

State directors may enlist assistance from their state associations as needed. 

PROCESS – DRIVER-LEVEL DATA COLLECTION
Drivers will be provided a form on which to report violations. A template is provided below:

The form may be modified for individual state use in any way needed, although it is requested that the data requested on this form be included in the state’s final survey instrument.

PROCESS – STATE REPORTING
The summary results should be reported to NASDPTS following your survey date in either of two ways, at each state’s option:

1. A state level summary may be submitted, consisting of aggregated results from all participating drivers in the state. This should be used by those states that want to gather, review and compile their own data prior to submitting one report for that state.
   The reporting instrument for this method is available HERE: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/StateStopArmReport.
   
   

2. Alternatively, local level summaries may be submitted by local transportation directors, consisting of summary results from all participating drivers in the reporting school districts. This should be used by states where the best course of action is to provide the driver survey form to districts / school bus companies and ask that each district / company report directly to NASDPTS.  The reporting instrument for this method is available HERE: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LocalStopArmReport

States should choose either the “State Level” reporting method, or the “Local Level” reporting method, but not both. 

Data Collection Tools

The following tools are available for states:

Driver Illegal Passing Reporting Form or  It is important that this form or one containing identical fields of information be used to ensure consistency of national reporting. 

Illegal Passing Results Spreadsheet.  This tool is for your state or local use to record and summarize the information from the individual driver forms.  We strongly encourage you to use this tool, because it tracks the state or local survey report to NASDPTS that you or your local directors will be asked to complete. 

Sample Memo to Local Directors.  This memo or something similar may help you in communicating with your local school districts regarding this project.

2011 Survey Results