It’s that time of year, when driving in Morgantown becomes a lot more hazardous, time-consuming and frustrating, but there’s no excuse to break traffic laws just because you’re in a hurry, according to local law enforcement.
“Give yourself at least 30 extra minutes at a minimum as you’re moving through (town),” Morgantown Police Chief Ed Preston said. “There’s going to be a lot of new people in town that don’t know where they’re going.”
WVU begins classes on Wednesday and this weekend students are moving in. Monongalia County Schools begin classes Tuesday.
The MPD will operate with “very beefed-up patrols” for the next several weeks, Preston said.
One offense the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department will be focused on with the start of public school is people who pass stopped school buses.
Assistant to the Superintendent in Charge of Transportation Jeff Meadows said amber lights on a bus mean the bus is going to stop and red lights mean you cannot pass it — from any direction.
Last year, extra deputies were assigned to monitor school bus routes, and the department works with the schools to target areas where the most complaints come from, Sheriff Perry Palmer said.
Meadows said, “It worked great.”
The money for the extra officers comes from the Governor’s Highway Safety Program, Palmer said. There will be extra officers, before and after school.
Passing a school bus isn’t just a traffic ticket. In addition to six points on your license, it’s a misdemeanor offense with a fine and the potential for jail time. A first conviction is a fine of $500-$1,000 and/or no more than six months in jail. A second conviction raises the fine to $1,000-$1,500.
Jail isn’t a possibility for a third conviction, it’s a guarantee. There’s a minimum of 48 hours and up to six months in jail with a fine of $2,000.
“I’ll have motorcycle officers out with radar. I will have patrol cars with radar. I’ll have the radar cart out and about, which is a fixed object,” Preston said. “So there’ll be a number of speed detection devices in and around the schools and the school zones and the school bus routes.”
Even if there isn’t an officer around to spot the offense, school buses have cameras on the front and back, and drivers simply have to push a button to get a picture of a violator both coming and going.
Reckless driving, illegal turns and failure to yield to pedestrians are some of the other offenses MPD officers will pay attention to, Preston said.
“And stay off the electronic devices. Put the phones down,” Preston said. “There is no one you need to call and no one you need to text while you’re driving.”
The city of Morgantown has taken steps to improve pedestrian safety this year, too. Three intersections around town received upgrades with safety in mind just in time for WVU’s new semester.
The intersections at Falling Run Road and University Avenue, Grant Avenue and Campus Drive and University Avenue near McDonald’s now have rumble strips, reflective signs and yield lines on the road, according to the city.
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