The Bentonville School District continues to experience a persistent problem with drivers failing to stop for school bus stop signs and warning lights.
As The Bentonville Bulletin previously reported, school leaders, concerned about the number of incidents, began sharing monthly statistics with the public last school year.
During the first three months of this school year, the district reported 124 incidents to police — a 35% increase from the same period last year.
At the November 18 school board meeting, Jason Salmons, director of transportation, shared some new insights that could help curb the issue.
A Persistent Problem
The 13 months of data available from the district show peaks and valleys in incidents, but the numbers are consistently high enough to concern district administrators.
The average since reporting began is 23 incidents a month – or about one incident reported to police each school day. September 2025 was the highest since reporting began, with 45 incidents.
The problem is almost certainly worse than what the chart above shows.
Many more incidents are reported by bus drivers but are not forwarded to police for several reasons.
Cameras on each bus attempt to capture license plates. When a violation occurs, school bus drivers hit a button, which preserves footage.
Sometimes the video is unusable because of rain or glare, or the vehicle has no visible license plate. “You'd be surprised how many cars come through without a license plate,” Salmons said.
Other times, an internal department review of the footage shows that no violation of law technically occurred.
In the first three months of this school year, drivers initiated 2.3 times as many reports as what ended up in the hands of area police departments.
When Do Drivers Need to Stop?
The main culprit, district leaders say, is simply distracted driving.
Another part of the problem could be that people are unaware of the law.
If you are driving behind a school bus that puts its stop sign out and begins flashing its lights, you need to stop.
But you also need to stop if you are driving in the opposing direction when the bus puts its stop sign out.
It doesn’t matter if you see children or not – you still have to stop.
It doesn’t matter how many lanes the road has – you still have to stop. (The only exception is when there’s a divided median of at least 20 feet, which basically means I-49, and school buses don’t pick up or drop off students on the interstate.)
The Problem is Worse in the Afternoon
About two-thirds of incidents flagged by bus drivers happen during after-school drop-off. The fact that more issues occur in the afternoon than in the morning is something “that surprises everybody,” Salmons said.
His theory, although it would be difficult to prove for certain, is that school buses are more visible in the morning. The “SCHOOL BUS” lettering is illuminated, and other lights tend to stand out more in the dark.
Targeted Enforcement
By digging into the data, the transportation department found several bus routes were outliers where more incidents were being reported.
The bus stops where incidents tend to happen are on busier streets, including Moberly Lane, Water Tower Road, and Highway 72.
Armed with this new insight, the Bentonville Police Department followed buses on six routes in unmarked vehicles for a few days, catching one driver in the act.
A school board member asked if there were repeat offenders. Salmons said he did not have data available on that.
The Bentonville School District’s boundaries cover multiple police jurisdictions. Steve Vera, the district’s director of security and safety, said the district was also collaborating with the Centerton Police Department.
