Updated DPS Information
2022 School Bus Illegal Passing Survey - April 27, 2022
The following information is provided by Christie Hebert, Texas DPS School Bus Division:
IMPORTANT:
Reporting forms are attached. Please follow ALL instructions below to ensure
proper reporting.
The
purpose of this notice is to announce the annual Texas School Bus Illegal
Passing Survey and urge every school district to participate. The Texas
Department of Public Safety School Bus Transportation program requests that all
school districts take part on or around Wednesday, April 27, 2022, for one day in which school bus operators observe and report any
instances of vehicles illegally passing their school buses.
This
survey will capture only a fraction of the violations that bus drivers and
other professionals in school transportation and law enforcement know are
occurring each and every morning and afternoon. Students are far safer
traveling to school in school buses, but when they are outside the bus, they
are the most vulnerable. Any driver who passes a stopped school bus
illegally, is gambling with a child’s life. The data collected from the
survey will be used to determine prevalence of illegal passing of school buses
within Texas. Therefore, it is extremely important that we have a high
participation rate.
Please
instruct school bus operators to pay special attention to the instructions and
safety precautions. As always, their primary duty is the safety of their
students. Each vehicle that illegally passes their bus should be recorded
on the form provided with the appropriate information that follows. Please
have your school bus operators record on the form all vehicles that illegally
pass the bus, while the bus driver is in full compliance with our state
training and procedures.
Each
school district will report their summary results using the attached excel spreadsheet. Please report survey results no later than
May 20, 2022.
Attached
to this email you will find the following tools:
- 2022-DriverForm.pdf. It is important that this form be used by each driver to ensure consistency of state reporting. For each illegal pass that occurs, please have your driver note the time of day, whether the illegal pass was from the front of the bus or the rear and whether the illegal pass occurred on the left or right side of the bus.
- 2022-Texas StopArm ResultsTool.xls. This form is to record and summarize all information from your individual driver forms. Once you have recorded all illegal passes from your district on this form, please email it back to me Christie.Hebert@dps.texas.gov . Do not send me individual driver forms.
Feel free to contact my
office if you have any questions at (512)
424-7396. Thank you for your participation in this important
initiative.
Thank you,
Christie
Hebert
Texas
Department of Public Safety
Texas Highway
Patrol Division
School Bus
Transportation Program
(512) 424-7396