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Over the past three years, the School Bus Safety Act has been tweaked with one goal in mind: to create stiffer penalties for drivers who ignore school bus stop arms.

Still, 2,200 people a day across the state pass school buses when stop arms are activated, said Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth.

“At the end of the day, you can’t legislate common sense or common courtesy,” said Folwell, whose 7-year-old son Dalton was killed in 1999 by a driver who ignored a stop arm. “When drivers see a yellow school bus, they shouldn’t think of it as a yellow light where they think they can speed through it.”

The latest tragedy occurred Monday in Rockingham County, when 16-year-old Nicholas Adkins was hit on West Main Street in Stone-ville while attempting to board a school bus.

Police say 60-year-old Judy Earlene Stilwell of 204 Forest St. in Stoneville failed to stop for the bus. Adkins, a sophomore at McMichael High School, died at the scene.

The School Bus Safety Act makes it a Class I misdemeanor to pass a stopped school bus and a Class I felony when a person is hit.

Changes to the act were inspired by local cases, Folwell said. In 2005, 16 people cited with stop-arm violations went before a judge in Guilford County and received prayers for judgment continued, Folwell said.

Folwell said a second version of the bill removed the option of receiving a prayer for judgment, which allows the offender to avoid a criminal charge.

As a result, Folwell said, North Carolina has the toughest stop-arm violation law in the country.

Jeff Harris, transportation director for Guilford County Schools, said the number of violations is much more than reported. Guilford reported 16 violations so far this school year, he said. There were 182 violations in Guilford on the single day in March last year when bus drivers across the state tracked how many people passed them illegally.

Harris said the last incident with injury in Guilford County involving a child and a school bus occurred in December 2007, when 8-year-old Mariah Rogers was hit by a car while leaving the bus on Montlieu Avenue in High Point.

“My opinion is people don’t pay attention,” Harris said. “They get things on their mind. They either react too slowly or they panic, or they’re not sure what they’re supposed to do and they don’t react correctly.”

Robert Gauldin, transportation director for Rockingham County Schools, couldn’t provide exact figures Tuesday for the number of stop-arm violations his drivers report. But he said it’s hard for them to get the information necessary to aid in prosecution.

Drivers must try and obtain a description of the vehicle and its license tag, he said, all while the car is speeding by them.

“In some instances they get that information, but most of the time it’s only partial information,” Gauldin said.

Police and prosecutors are still reviewing the case against Stilwell. Once all the information is in, officials will decide whether additional charges are appropriate, said Julia Hejazi, Rockingham County’s chief assistant district attorney.

Calls to Stilwell’s home Tuesday afternoon were met with a busy signal.

Folwell said the slaps on the wrist that stop-arm violators had been receiving in court discouraged police officers.

“Now, we have empowered law enforcement officers and given them the tools to do their jobs,” he said.

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com