- April 18, 2024
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The Flagler County Sheriff's Office conducted "Operation Bluebird" on Monday, Oct. 22, to educate the public about school bus laws during National School Bus Safety Week, which is the week of Oct. 22-26.
Unmarked patrol cars followed two different bus routes for morning pickup and afternoon drop-off while a deputy sat in each of the two school buses with the students to communicate via radio with the patrol cars about any vehicles violating school bus laws.
"The reason why we're doing this is because we always get a lot of complaints from the bus drivers that people pass school buses," Cmdr. Gerald Ditolla said. "So, at the beginning of the school year, I had a meeting at the bus garage with all the bus drivers, and we came up with a plan to try to track these."
Two bus routes in the Seminole Woods area and along A1A were chosen for the operation on Monday after bus drivers had previously communicated with FCSO to say they've seen violators along their routes.
"If we see a vehicle passing a school bus, the deputy on the bus calls out the violation and the vehicle information, and then the deputy in the unmarked car stops the vehicle," said Ditolla, who oversees FCSO Traffic Unit.
On bus No. 20512, the peacock bus, there were no violations seen during the morning route, but there were three violations spotted during the afternoon drop-off. On bus No. 20803, the ladybug bus, there were two violations in the morning along the bus route, but none in the afternoon.
"This is not the only time we're going to do it. We're going to do it throughout the year," Ditolla said. "We're not going to tell anybody when we're doing it. They shouldn't just pass a school bus."
Florida State Statute 316.172 reads, in part: "Any person using, operating or diving a vehicle on or over the roads or highways of this state shall, upon approaching any school bus which displayed a stop signal, bring such vehicle to a full stop while the bus is stopped, and the vehicle shall not pass the school bus until the signal has been withdrawn."
"It's all about protecting kids," Sheriff Rick Staly said before he followed a deputy in another unmarked car along one of the routes on Monday.
FCSO will also now have bus drivers fill out a weekly form to document what violations they see during their routes.
Traffic Unit supervisor Cpl. Scott Vedder said in an email: "A bus driver from a bus that was not part of Operation Bluebird advised there were four vehicles that failed to stop for her on the afternoon route. There were also numerous other violations observed at bus stops involving parked vehicles and road obstructions. Seeing these violations from a bus driver’s point of view was very informative and the traffic unit will adjust accordingly to take action on these bus stop violations."
