WARSAW — City Council President Jack Wilhite thinks that more needs to be done to address stop-arm violations in which motorists drive around school buses that are in the midst of picking up or dropping off students.

Wilhite sits on the City Traffic Commission and brought up the issue last week.

He's proposed having a sit-down roundtable discussion that would include the county prosecutors, school officials, and law enforcement. 

The most recent report on the district’s stop arm violations in the school district were not immediately available but three years ago, WCS recorded as many as 289 illegal passes, with the highest concentration (80 violations) occurring at the Papa John’s bus stop on Center Street.

Wilhite said he' aware that the number of citations for stop-arm violations has risen slightly as a resiult of increased enforcement, which he applauded, but adds that he thinks more could be done.

He referenced the  tragedy in Rochester in 2018 that left three children dead as a result of a stop arm violation.

“I'm just ... I'm very concerned that the next one will happen here again in Warsaw,  and I don't want to wait for another wake-up call. I'd like to see us do something," Wilhite said last week.

He said he's open to ideas and even suggested the use of large signs on buses, alerting motorists to the potential fines they could face for stop-arm violations.

Whether that's even possible remains an unknown, but Wilhite said they want top look at options.

“I think that's what we have to do. We have to think (outside) of the box,” he added.

If you want to reach out to Wilhite, his contact information is on the City website.

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