Two Rivers amends traffic code to require school buses to use stop arm and red lights whenever students board or exit

Two Rivers City Council on Monday, Oct. 6 adopted an amendment to the municipal traffic code requiring school buses to activate flashing red warning lights and to extend the stop arm whenever students are boarding or exiting a bus.

Diane Johnson, superintendent of Two Rivers Public Schools, and Chris Aschenbrenner, office manager for Two Rivers Buses Inc., urged the council to adopt the local ordinance change, saying the stop arm is a clearer signal to drivers than the flashing lights alone. “When that arm swings out, drivers recognize that they must come to a full stop,” Johnson told the council during the meeting’s presentations.

City staff explained the change incorporates standards that staff said were in state administrative rules but had not previously been adopted into the city’s code. Captain Ray of the police department answered questions about traffic impacts and said officers receive reports from bus drivers about unsafe passing behavior; the department said it supported the extra clarity for motorists.

The ordinance replaces the prior reliance on state statute language and makes the combined red lights plus extended stop arm a municipal code violation enforceable under the city’s forfeiture schedule. Council members asked about potential traffic delays on narrow streets where multiple pick‑ups occur; staff said the substantive traffic law does not change beyond the addition of the stop arm requirement and that the ordinance’s purpose is prevention.

The council approved the ordinance on a roll-call vote (see Actions). City staff said they would publicize the change to drivers, schools and bus operators and enforce the amended code consistent with existing moving‑violation procedures.

Ending: The ordinance is effective immediately; enforcement will use the existing forfeiture schedule in the municipal code.