School Starting Soon! Don't Pass School Buses

Drivers must stop on the street or highway 20 feet or more from any school bus that has stopped and is flashing red warning lights.

• This applies both to vehicles approaching from the rear and from the opposing lanes.
• All lanes of traffic must stop for the school bus, except in opposing lanes if the highway is divided with a center median.
• No vehicle may proceed until the bus resumes motion and has turned off the red warning lights.
• The stop arm on the bus is an added communication to other drivers, but the lack of an extended stop arm is not reason to pass a bus whose red lights are flashing.

In some urban areas buses will signal with yellow lights, or use red lights only in some parts of town. Motorists should observe school buses carefully for either the "pass cautiously" yellow light signal or the required full stop when a bus is flashing red lights.

A vehicle owner can be cited when the driver of a car passes a school bus illegally. A law enforcement officer need not witness this violation if the school bus driver reports it to the law enforcement agency within 24 hours. Fines can be quite high for illegally passing a school bus, but the risk of hitting a child is even higher.

Give A Tip!

A reminder to residents to continue using the "Give A Tip" web tip form, which is available on the Sturgeon Bay Police Departments Facebook Page as well as on our website located at http://www.sturgeonbaypolice.com/webtip.html.

Any information provided is completely confidential and is sent directly to investigators for review. As always we appreciate your help in solving crimes within the Community of Sturgeon Bay.

Move Over Law: Drivers must provide a safety zone for stopped law enforcement and other emergency vehicles

This time of year, law enforcement officers, tow truck operators and emergency responders are busy working on the side of highways to rescue motorists and remove vehicles that have slid off icy roads or into other vehicles. Although the frigid conditions test their resolve, the greatest danger these workers face is being hit by vehicles traveling at high speeds just a few feet away.

To protect law enforcement officers, tow truck operators, emergency responders, road maintenance workers, and others who work on the side of roadways, Wisconsin has a Move Over Law. The law requires drivers to shift lanes if possible or slow down in order to create a safety zone for a law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, fire truck, tow truck or highway maintenance vehicle that is stopped or parked on the side of a road with its warning lights flashing.

“To create a safety zone on interstate highways and other divided roads with multiple directional lanes, you must move over to vacate the lane closest to the law enforcement or other emergency vehicle if you can safely switch lanes,” says Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent Stephen Fitzgerald. “If the road has a single directional lane or you can’t safely move over because of traffic, you must reduce your speed until safely past the vehicle.”

Violating the Move Over Law can be expensive as well as dangerous. A citation costs $263.50 with three demerit points added to your license.

“When drivers disregard the Move Over Law, they are putting lives at risk. Failure of motorists to create a safety zone by moving over or slowing down is one of the major reasons that motor vehicle crashes kill more law enforcement officers on duty than any other cause. Tow truck operators, highway maintenance workers and emergency responders also are killed and injured when drivers don’t move over or slow down,” says Superintendent Fitzgerald. “By obeying the Move Over Law, drivers can protect themselves, their passengers, our officers and others who work on highways from needless injuries and deaths.”