Back to school: bus stop and pedestrian safety, and the insurance behind it

The first weeks of school change the traffic on every residential street in the four states. Children wait at bus stops in the half-light, cross arterials in Mesa and West Valley City, ride bikes along canal paths and county roads, and scatter from parked cars in pickup lines. The drivers around them are commuters who spent the summer on emptier streets, parents running late, and teenagers driving themselves to school for the first time.

This article is about the two sides of that picture: the household whose driver might hit a child, and the household whose child might be hit. It explains what the season changes, which policies respond on each side, what to do before school starts and after an incident, and the decisions that matter most.

What the season does

School buses stop often and without much warning, and the extended stop arm and flashing red lights require traffic to stop in both directions on many roads. The rules on when opposing traffic must stop, particularly on divided highways, and the penalties for passing a stopped bus are set by each state and printed in that state's driver handbook. School zones carry reduced speed limits during posted hours, and fines inside them are often higher.

Light matters as much as the rules. Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, so its mornings brighten earlier in late summer than the other states' do, while in Nevada, Utah and Idaho the clock change in autumn briefly puts afternoon walks home closer to dusk. Heat in the desert and early snow in the mountains both push children to wait closer to the road or dash between cars.

When your driver hits a child

If a household member strikes a pedestrian or cyclist, the auto policy's bodily injury liability coverage pays the injured child's medical costs, future care, pain and suffering and the family's related losses, and pays for the driver's defence, up to the limit. Injuries to children can be severe and long-lasting, and juries tend to view them seriously, so this is where the minimum limits are least adequate.

Suppose a driver backing out of a driveway injures a nine-year-old on a bike, and the child's medical care and future treatment are valued at $400,000. With bodily injury limits of $100,000 per person, the auto policy pays $100,000, and the driver faces the rest personally unless an umbrella policy adds, for example, $1,000,000 above it. The figures are hypothetical.

Driving in a school zone does not change which policy responds, but a citation for speeding in the zone or passing a stopped bus will be used as evidence of fault, and the citation itself raises the premium at renewal.

When your child is the one hit

The first source of payment is the at-fault driver's liability coverage. When that driver has no insurance, or too little, the family's own auto policy steps in through uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which on most forms covers household members injured as pedestrians or cyclists, not only as occupants of a car. A family that rejected that coverage to save premium may have nothing to fall back on besides health insurance.

Medical payments coverage on the family's auto policy often also covers household members struck by a vehicle while walking or cycling, regardless of fault, up to its limit. In Utah, personal injury protection plays that role: the family's own PIP generally pays first for a household member struck as a pedestrian, subject to the policy's terms. Health insurance pays medical bills in every state, subject to its deductible, and the auto coverages then help with the deductible, co-pays and costs health plans do not cover.

Suppose a twelve-year-old in Nampa is struck in a crosswalk by an uninsured driver and the family's costs, including lost work for a parent, reach $80,000. With uninsured motorist limits of $250,000 on the family's own policy, that coverage pays the claim as though the other driver had been insured. Without it, the family relies on health insurance and a lawsuit against a driver with no insurance to collect from. These numbers are hypothetical.

Carpools, volunteers, bikes and the bus itself

Several school-season situations raise their own questions.

• Carpools: a parent driving other people's children is covered by the parent's own auto policy, and injured passengers claim against its liability and medical payments coverage. An unpaid carpool does not change coverage, but a parent who charges for rides may fall outside a personal policy.
• Volunteer driving for a school or team: the driver's personal auto policy is usually primary, and the school's or organisation's policy, if it applies at all, is typically excess.
• Bikes and scooters: a bicycle stolen from a school rack is personal property under the family's homeowners or renters policy, subject to the deductible. An expensive e-bike may need to be scheduled, and some policies exclude motorised bikes altogether.
• Children causing injury: a child who knocks down another child on a bike or scooter creates a liability claim that the family's homeowners or renters liability coverage generally handles.
• The school bus: injuries in a bus crash are claimed against the district or bus contractor. Claims against public entities carry formal notice requirements and short deadlines that differ by state, so ask the district or an attorney for the notice period that applies as soon as the injury is known.
• Student accident plans: some schools offer optional student accident insurance, which pays limited benefits for injuries during school activities and supplements rather than replaces health insurance.

Before the first day

A household can cover both sides with a short list.

• Walk or ride the route with younger children, and choose crossings with signals or guards.
• Teach children to wait well back from the curb and to cross only when the bus driver signals.
• For drivers in the household, allow extra time on school mornings and treat every stopped bus as a full stop until the arm retracts.
• Check the auto policy's bodily injury limits, uninsured and underinsured motorist limits and medical payments coverage.
• Record the make, model and serial number of each bike and scooter, and photograph them.
• Keep the policy numbers and the carrier's claim line in each parent's phone.

After an incident

Get medical care first, and call police so a report exists even for an injury that seems minor. Children often do not describe pain accurately at the scene. Collect the driver's name, licence plate, insurance details and witness contacts, and photograph the location, the vehicle and any damaged bike. Report the claim to your own carrier even if the other driver is plainly at fault; uninsured motorist and medical payments claims depend on prompt notice. If a school bus or public vehicle is involved, ask right away about the claim notice process and its deadline.

The decision points

Three coverage choices decide how either side of a school-season accident turns out. Liability limits, with an umbrella for a household with assets, determine whether an injury your driver causes is paid by insurance or by you. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, matched to those limits, determines whether your own child is protected from someone else's thin policy. And medical payments coverage, or PIP in Utah, pays the early bills quickly.

If those three are in good shape, the policy needs nothing further. If not, we compare the limits across the carriers we represent in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Idaho and show what each step costs, at no charge, and we tell you when your current policy already fits.