Don’t park in bus lanes during school pick-up and drop-off: NLPS

Northern Lights Public Schools is reminding parents and motorists to not park in the bus lanes during school drop-off and pick-up times.

NLPS communications officer Nicole Garner said there’s been an increase of these cases at some division schools and it’s a safety concern.

“It’s causing some near misses with students. So it’s a combination of parking in bus lanes, then the buses have nowhere to go, or people not even coming to a full stop before their kids jump out of their cars., and then combined with also people not using the crosswalks at a few schools,” said Garner.

“So we just need people to be aware, please do not park in the bus lane.”

While it is one of those evergreen issues for a school board, like speeding in school zones, for example, it has been of greater concern this school year.

“What will happen is sometimes our administrators or even our director of transportation will go out if they’re getting reports of that kind of thing, just to assess just how serious the situation is. Because as you can imagine, sometimes it’s just okay–it was bad one day, and it’s not an ongoing concern,” said Garner.

“But what we’re noticing is it’s becoming a little more common.”

Whether it was the recent cold snap or changes in how schools would typically allow drop-off and pick-up with COVID protocols, Garner is hoping parents and motorists can do their best to avoid parking in bus lanes.