Hellertown Moms Take Bus Stop Safety Seriously, Say Police Presence Needed

Editor’s Note: Channel 69 News, WFMZ-TV, has contacted Walser and Kichline for interviews to be conducted for a story that’s expected to air Tuesday evening.

A Saucon Valley school bus stop at W. High Street and Whitaker Street in Hellertown is so dangerous that two moms have taken to standing in the road, to block drivers from speeding past it while their children are boarding their stopped bus each morning.

Rebecca Walser and Alicia Kichline began the practice because they say drivers regularly disregard the fact that the school bus is stopped with its stop arm extended.

Motorists are legally required to stop, but frequently drive past the stopped bus at “breakneck” speeds, Walser said.

In a post on the borough’s Facebook page Tuesday, Walser criticized the fact that she has not seen a police officer sit at the bus stop, after requesting law enforcement assistance last week.

“Almost a week ago, the parents at our bus stop were promised that a cop would be placed at our bus stop, because people kept racing past our bus,” she wrote. “Not one officer has been seen at all. We didnt even get the luxury of an officer driving through the area.”

“We have to stand in the road every morning and afternoon so that our children aren’t hit and killed,” she added.

Walser also shared a photo that shows the bus stopped on Whitaker Street, with her standing in W. High Street at the intersection.

“The bus can’t even pull around the corner, because then no one would be able to see a car coming around the side of the bus,” she wrote. “He has to sit like this so we have a full view of everyone flying past, at breakneck speeds.”

Pennsylvania’s School Bus Stopping Law requires that:

• Motorists must stop at least 10 feet away from school buses that have their red lights flashing and stop arm extended.
• Motorists must stop when they are behind a bus, meeting the bus or approaching an intersection where a bus is stopped.
• Motorists following or traveling alongside a school bus must also stop until the red lights have stopped flashing, the stop arm is withdrawn, and all children have reached safety.
• If physical barriers such as grassy medians, guide rails or concrete median barriers separate oncoming traffic from a bus, motorists in the opposing lanes may proceed without stopping.
• Motorists do not proceed until all children have reached a place of safety.

Penalties for those convicted of violating the law include a $250 fine, a 60-day driver’s license suspension and five points on one’s driving record.

The High and Whitaker bus stop is not a regular bus stop. It was relocated there after the Rt. 412 construction project that began three years ago made the Saucon Valley School District’s regular bus stop in northwest Hellertown unusable.

“The safety of the children in this town is not something I expected (the borough police) to take lightly,” Walser said.