MOHAVE COUNTY – Three area public school superintendents have banded together to remind drivers that school buses will again be picking up and dropping off students, as the 2023-2024 school year gets under way. In addition to buses, students will also be walking or riding bicycles to and from school, and sometimes crossing the street to and from bus stops.
Bullhead City School District #15 (BCSD) and Mohave Valley Elementary School District #16 (MVESD) start classes on July 31. Colorado River Union High School District (CRUHSD) begins its new school year on August 2.
“When a school bus is displaying its red flashing lights and stop sign, traffic stops in both directions, unless it’s a divided highway,” Superintendents Carolyn Stewart (BCSD), Cole Young (MVESD) and Tim Richard (CRUHSD) said in a joint statement. “Under Arizona state law, school bus drivers are empowered to report those violators to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.”
The superintendents also noted that when buses are stopped, there’s a good chance that students are nearby. Not all students will pay attention to oncoming traffic, so drivers of other vehicles should always be alert and yield to pedestrians, even if the pedestrians don’t have the right of way.
All three districts have had school buses damaged in accidents caused by other careless drivers in private vehicles. Buses have been t-boned, hit head-on, sideswiped and even flipped on their sides.
In addition to BCSD, CRUHSD and MVESD, other area public schools will start school in August, with the same school bus safety tips. Clark County School District (Bennett Elementary and Laughlin Junior-Senior High Schools) returns August 7, along with the Needles Unified School District on August 16. Topock Elementary School District #12 rounds out the area’s public schools, starting on August 24.
