39 citations written in Collegedale for passing a stopped school bus

COLLEGEDALE, Tenn. (WDEF) – Collegedale Police are taking aggressive measures to make sure that every child is safe at their bus stops.

By law, you are supposed to stop your car if there is a school bus loading or unloading on either side of the street if there is not a median.

That’s a lesson Collegedale police are trying to teach.

They are doing a crackdown on those drivers, a charging motorists with a misdemeanor.

Officials says that an ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Officer Brighton Spain says, “It seems like the vast majority of the people we come in contact with for passing the school bus, they’re not aware that they have to stop. So we use that as an education, but also, you know, children can’t get a warning if they’re hit by a vehicle.”

Officer Spain says that he believes that most officers are not giving warnings because they have to take it serious.

A misdemeanor citation includes taking fingerprints.

39 citations have been written in the last few months by Collegedale Police.