More than 20 years ago, on busy, two-lane Route 219 north of Ebensburg, a father walked his young daughter to a school bus that had pulled up across the street from their house, with its flashers on and the fold-out stop sign on the left extended.

Having seen his daughter safely onto the bus, the father was crossing the road toward his house when a vehicle driven by someone who had ignored the flashing lights and fold-out stop sign ran him over.

Officials from PennDOT, the Altoona Area School District, the school district police, Altoona police and Amtran — whose General Manager Eric Wolf shared the Ebensburg accident story — spoke in front of the high school Fieldhouse Wednesday in hopes of preventing those kinds of accidents when school reopens next week.

The bottom of the car — but not the tires — passed over the man in Ebensburg, without dragging him, and he survived, but with injuries from which he hasn’t fully recovered, according to Wolf.

The number of motorists disregarding school-related traffic safety measures is increasing in Blair County, according to Jody Mosley, co-coordinator of the Cambria-Allegheny Regional Highway Safety Network, a Penn­DOT contractor.

In 2019, there were nine citations in Blair for speeding in school zones or passing a bus stopped with flashing lights, she said.

In 2021, there were 50 — over five times as many — just two years later, she said.

Between 2017 and 2021 in Pennsylvania, there were about 26,000 such violations — almost 10,000 of which involved the illegal passing of school buses, with their flashing lights, according to Mosley.

Violations of the rules against passing school buses when they’re stopped to pick up or drop off kids are more common early in the school year, said Dave James, a longtime Amtran driver who has operated the organization’s school “trippers.”

Those violations are most common along one-way Sixth and Seventh avenues, where the junior and senior high schools are located, according to James.

As a safety measure, tripper drivers wait until they see traffic stopped before opening their doors, he said.

But that doesn’t help if there’s a clear lane in front or behind and drivers approach without paying attention or without caring, according to James.

Drivers may put their hand out the window as a signal to stop, and holler to kids to watch out, but sometimes such oncoming vehicles are “on you quickly,” James said.

It’s hard to tell what motivates the violators, but it’s probable that most are just in a hurry, according to James.

To ensure that motorists aren’t tempted to violate the rules, they should allow extra time to get to work or wherever they’re going when school for Altoona begins on Wednesday, Aug. 24, said Bill Pfeffer, director of school district police services.

And “be patient with us,” said Tom Tokarsky, operations manager for Student Transportation of America, which runs the yellow school buses for the district.

“We’re going to be a little slow” the first few days — especially because for many kids, it will be the first time they’re getting on or off a school bus, Tokarsky said.

Altoona police will be running a pedestrian safety traffic enforcement detail in the vicinity of all the schools for at least the first week, according to Sgt. Tom Venios.

It’s intended to ensure against accidents involving kids crossing streets to get on or off buses and also to protect crossing guards.

Not all motorists realize that they must yield to pedestrians who have entered a crosswalk, Venios said.

The detail is funded by a PennDOT grant.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.