Students promote school bus safety

During the City Council meeting on Monday, five students from Socorro were honored for their outstanding achievements in promoting bus safety with their impactful posters, that earned them first place in a recent competition.

Danny Hicks, Director of Transportation at the Socorro School District, said the contest is part of their goal to stop red-light runners, those who pass school buses when they have their stop sign out.

“Last year we had the most that we’ve ever had. I want to say it was like 56 red-light runners,” Hicks said, “We had three that were within inches of hitting these kids. And that is probably the worst feeling as a bus driver, knowing that you can’t stop that.”

He believes the poster contest has been very effective; as of this school year, they have only had 14 red light runners so far, a significant decrease from last year.

“I’ve been with the district, this is my 27th year, and we have always had cars pass,” Hicks said, “The police officers couldn’t do anything about it, because they had to see it actually happen. So for years, we would honk our horn, and we would wave at them, and they just looked at us like, what’s wrong with you?”

Three years ago, the addition of bus cameras was a game changer. With video evidence to capture license plates, they approached Chief Angel Garcia, and he said the police could use it to issue tickets. Since then, bus drivers have submitted the video to the appropriate law enforcement, city, county, or New Mexico Tech police. He said sometimes they would send up to two videos of violations a day.

He said law enforcement would follow up on the tickets and educate the drivers in violation.

“The fine for running a school bus stop sign is $129, and I’m like, are you kidding? But I guess the city has to follow the state. They can’t be any higher than the state, and the state fine is $129 so now what they’re doing is they will automatically issue a ticket and they have to go talk to the judge now,” Hicks said, “So it’s a little bit stiffer now than what it was last year and I’m excited about that.”

Hicks said last year, bus driver Ramona Montoya was dropping off kids after a school program in the evening; it was dark, and a car was within inches of hitting a kid.

“And I don’t think that car even knew that there was a kid out there. He was stopped behind the bus, and she was unloading this kid. It was over by Tech, and she was unloading as he crossed the road. The guy got impatient and went around the bus, and he was just within inches of missing. So Ramona had come to me. She said we’ve got to do something.” Hicks said.

It was then that Montoya came up with the idea for the poster contest, with the plan of plastering the posters all over town. The goal was to spread awareness in the community.

The effort is growing. Last year was the first year of the contest, and they only had one school participate, but this year, all the schools participated.

Hick said that every third week in October is a school bus safety week, and they go to all the elementary schools and talk to them about school bus safety. How to behave on the bus and the safe ways to cross the street.

He said bus drivers do their best to explain to the kids that they need to stop and look both ways, “but sometimes somebody will come around, like from behind us and come around, or they’ll come around a corner, or they just flat out, won’t stop, and it is so scary when that happens.”

For that reason, it’s a community effort. Hicks said that the Socorro city council and mayor have been supportive of the poster contest, helping to fund the prizes for the winners and displaying the posters around the community. Residents can expect to see the posters around town, as well as submissions that didn’t place first. They’ll be printed and posted on all the local billboards, such as the library and post office.

“It’s really been cool, and the kids get so excited,” Hicks said “And then when you blow it up big, like that, it looks so cool.”