§ 36-322. Imposition of penalty for violations.

The parish council finds and determines that a vehicle that overtakes or meets a stopped school bus on which emergency stopped signals are operating for the purpose of, or in preparation for picking up or discharging passengers damages the public by endangering students and operators alike, by decreasing the efficiency of traffic control and traffic flow efforts, and by increasing the number of serious accidents to which public safety agencies must respond at the expense of the taxpayers.

The driver of a motor vehicle, upon any public roadway in Jefferson Parish, which proceeds to overtake or meet, from any direction, any school bus that has stopped for the purpose of, or is in the preparation of picking up or discharging passengers, shall stop the vehicle before reaching such school bus when the bus has in operation its visual signals, and the driver of the vehicle shall not proceed with, said vehicle until the bus resumes motion and the bus's visual signals are no longer activated. The failure of a driver of a vehicle to comply with these provisions shall cause the registered owner of the vehicle being operated by the driver at the time of the violation to be liable for a civil penalty of four hundred dollars ($400.00) plus any additional costs assessed for the enforcement of this article, but in no event shall the total fine plus enforcement costs exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) per violation. There shall be a discount applied for timely payments, which discount shall be one hundred five dollars ($105.00) and shall be applied ONLY when the full payment of the civil fine is made within thirty (30) days of the date of the violation or within fifteen (15) days of the receipt of the citation, whichever is later. The full payment of the fine after the discount will be two hundred ninety-five dollars ($295.00).

All penalties and fees collected from the imposition of civil liability under this article shall be first expended to defray all costs associated with the operation and enforcement of the school bus safety enforcement program in the following manner: twelve (12) percent to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office and eighty-eight (88) percent to the Jefferson Parish Public School District.

Notwithstanding the limitations on the amount of the fine imposed under this article, however, any court which handles any part of the prosecution for a violation under this article may impose court costs upon the person responsible for the fine in addition to the fine and enforcement costs imposed under this article.

(Ord. No. 23421, § 1, 10-29-08)