A recent press article has painted a negative picture of the Commonwealth of PA School Bus Safety Stop Arm Program.  The article states, “..it’s rare that students are hurt or killed as a result of drivers illegally passing school buses…”.  Just one injured or dead student is too many for the Bensalem Township Police Department and the Bensalem Township School District.  We feel compelled to share our real-time data with the parents of children who attend school in Bensalem Township.

Since August 29, 2022, Bensalem Police have issued 4,287 civil violations to owners of vehicles that have failed to stop for school bus stop arms and red lights.  From August 2022 thru the end of December 2022, we were averaging 35 violations per school day.  “This was a shocking number that none of us anticipated but clearly identified this as a public safety concern” said Bensalem Township Director of Public Safety William McVey.

The effectiveness of this program is already apparent and the results speak for themselves.  The average number of violations from January 2023 to April 2023 has dropped 32% to 24 violations per school day.  These numbers continue to trend downward.

The goal of this program is to change driver behavior and reduce the number of school bus violations.  The Bensalem Township Police Department is committed to the safety of our children and it is our job to uphold the laws of this Commonwealth.  We will continue to issue civil violations for every vehicle that fails to stop for a school bus with a stop arm deployed and we will do it on every road in the township.    

The statistics prove that this program is reducing the chance that another family has to grieve the death or serious injury of their child while attending Bensalem Township schools.