Changes in traffic ordinances for Kansas cities will introduce stiffer fines for passing a stopped school bus.
“This is a huge problem across the state and in our community,” said Hays Chief of Police Don Scheibler in comments to the Hays city commissioners during their work session Thursday evening. “We tend to have people drive around school buses with the stop sign extended.”
Scheibler briefed the commissioners on the 2018 changes to traffic ordinances by the Kansas Legislature for Kansas cities. He and city staff recommend the commissioners at their next regular meeting Aug. 9 adopt the new ordinances. They cover a variety of offenses, from littering and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, to passing a stationary trash truck.
Overtaking and passing a school bus is not a new ordinance, Scheibler said, but the change in the ordinance increases the fine.
“They’ve increased that fine,” he said. “It’s $375 for the first one, which is the same, but $750 for the next one, and $1,000 for the third. The unique thing about this, is that’s over a five-year period that you can get the increased fine.”
(Read more: News – The Hays Daily News)