Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Springfield Public Schools District 186 and its transportation partner, First Student, announced today the completion of fleet-wide safety upgrades that will better alert motorists to stopped school buses on all routes throughout the city.
“It’s up to everyone to be aware of school buses, especially this time of year now that they are back on the road every day. After last year’s successful pilot program, we are eager to deploy stop arm extensions on all of our buses to make them more visible and reduce the risk of cars illegally passing while students are getting on and off,” said District 186 Schools Superintendent Jennifer Gill.
The district, with cooperation from transportation partner First-Student, initially installed stop arm extensions, made locally by Springfield-based BusGates™, on 20 of its 190 buses in October of last year thanks to a donation from the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA).
“Since our initial pilot installation, we have seen a reduction in school bus drive-arounds. These stop arm extensions make our buses even more visible and have increased safety for students getting on and off buses around the city. Based on that knowledge it was a good investment to upgrade the remaining 170 buses,” said Gabrielle Kilby-Fisher, District 186 Coordinator of Transportation.
Stopped school buses are illegally passed nearly 45 million times each year, according to the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS). The latest NASDPTS survey reported nearly 62,500 vehicles passed stopped school buses illegally during a single measurement day in the 2022-2023 school year.
Springfield District 186 joins 21 other Illinois school districts across Illinois to use BusGates stop-arm extensions to upgrade transportation safety measures.
