{"id":231868,"date":"2026-04-14T22:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231868\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T22:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:05:07","slug":"what-drivers-need-to-know-about-railroad-crossings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231868\/","title":{"rendered":"What drivers need to know about railroad crossings"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Following recent incidents<\/a> involving Duval County Public Schools buses<\/a>, DCPS Police Chief Jackson Short answered some questions about driver safety, road rules, and what drivers should expect near railroad crossings.<\/p>\n

Short, a law enforcement professional with more than 28 years of experience, addressed common questions about school bus laws, the dangers of passing a stopped bus, and what all drivers can do to help keep students safe.<\/p>\n

RELATED: DCPS superintendent calls school bus crashes \u2018tragic\u2019 as district works to launch community safety campaign<\/a><\/p>\n

Florida law requires school buses to stop at railroad crossings<\/p>\n

When asked about the rules of the road involving school buses and railroad tracks, Short was clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida state law says that every school bus that has children on it must stop at every railroad crossing within the range of at least 15 feet, but no more than 50 feet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Short explained that drivers approaching a railroad crossing should always expect a school bus ahead to come to a full stop \u2014 regardless of whether warning arms are down or a train is approaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the school bus driver stops, he or she is required to look and listen for any trains that may be coming,\u201d Short said. \u201cAnd then when they finally do think it is safe to proceed, [the bus drivers] are not allowed to shift gears.\u201d<\/p>\n

That means crossings will be slow. Short urged drivers to stay patient.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor our other drivers here in Duval County, they need to be aware of that, and they need to be paying attention. They need to be patient with the school bus drivers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Why a full stop \u2014 not just a slow roll?<\/p>\n

Short explained that school buses are not alone in being required to stop at railroad crossings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are other commercial vehicles that are also required to stop depending on the type of cargo that they\u2019re carrying,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The reasoning, he added, comes down to consequences and capability.<\/p>\n

MORE | Council member addressing Zoo Parkway concerns after 2 school bus crashes within one week<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s because of the consequences involved. Number one, the consequences involved of a train striking a vehicle like that,\u201d Short said. \u201cBut also, it\u2019s not as easy for \u2014 some of these larger vehicles, such as a school bus \u2014 to maneuver over train tracks quickly or get out of the way quickly as maybe a smaller sedan.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the case of school buses, Short noted, the cargo in question is children.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t even think about passing a stopped bus<\/p>\n

Impatient drivers may be tempted to go around a stopped school bus near railroad tracks. Short said that would be both illegal and dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be dangerous for the driver that\u2019s trying to pass. It would be dangerous for the school bus and its occupants. It would be dangerous for any train that\u2019s coming,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that is not something that anybody should be considering doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short also reminded drivers that school buses are on the road at all times \u2014 not just during morning and afternoon routes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have school buses throughout the day taking students on field trips, which was the case in both of these last two crashes,\u201d he said. \u201cSo any time that our drivers see our school buses out and about, we need to assume that we have students on there and we need to be driving carefully around them and obeying all of our state laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Passing a stopped bus comes with real consequences<\/p>\n

Drivers who illegally pass a stopped school bus face more than just a warning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat could result in a driver getting a citation. It could result in points on your license,\u201d Short said.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Semi driver cited for careless driving, fined $164 in school bus crash that injured 4 kindergartners, records show<\/a><\/p>\n

Beyond the legal and financial penalties, Short emphasized the human cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore importantly, it could cause a tragedy. And nobody wants to live with that, nobody wants to cause a tragedy,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd in these situations, dealing with very young students, just know that these are young students whose lives can be changed drastically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chief Short\u2019s plea to drivers, students, parents, staff<\/p>\n

Short closed with a direct message to everyone sharing the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur message to all of our drivers, all of our students, all of our staff is to be careful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He pointed to DCPS\u2019s existing \u201cBe Safe. Be Seen.\u201d campaign \u2014 aimed at students walking and biking to school \u2014 as a foundation the community can build on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just another level of student safety,\u201d Short said. \u201cWe would just reiterate to all of our drivers that, again, the school buses are big and yellow for a reason, and we should be looking out for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short urged drivers to expect buses to stop at railroad crossings, watch for stop arms at bus stops, know state law, and remember that keeping students safe is a shared responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have to work together to keep our students safe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Watch the full video here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Following recent incidents involving Duval County Public Schools buses, DCPS Police Chief Jackson Short answered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1040,116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-231868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-dcps","9":"tag-jacksonville","10":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","11":"tag-jacksonville-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}