April 14, 2026 – In light of recent events involving DCPS school buses, Team Duval News sat down for a Q&A with Duval County Public Schools Police Chief Jackson Short. As a law enforcement professional with over 28 years of experience, he gave important advice on driver safety, road rules, and a reminder about how to navigate railroad crossings near a school bus.
You can read his responses to common questions about school buses, railroad crossings, and road safety below.
Team Duval News: First of all, when it comes to school buses and railroad tracks, what are the rules of the road?
Chief Short: Florida 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.
So what our drivers need to know is that if they're behind a school bus and you're approaching a railroad crossing, that school bus is going to stop regardless of whether or not the arms are down or a train is coming. Once the school bus driver stops, he or she is required to look and listen for any trains that may be coming. And then when they finally do think it is safe to proceed, [the bus drivers] are not allowed to shift gears.
So it's going to be a slow crossing of the railroad tracks. For 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.
Team Duval News: Why do school buses have to stop before the train tracks? Why not just move slowly versus coming to a full stop?
Chief Short: So, school buses are not the only vehicles that are required to stop. There are other commercial vehicles that are also required to stop depending on the type of cargo that they're carrying. And really, it's because of the consequences involved. Number one, the consequences involved of a train striking a vehicle like that. But also, it's not as easy for - some of these larger vehicles, such as a school bus - to maneuver over train tracks quickly or get out of the way quickly as maybe a smaller sedan.
So, the cargo involved in our case, it's our children that are involved, but also the lack of the ability [to stop quickly] with some of these larger vehicles that we're talking about.
Team Duval News: When the bus has to stop, that could make people impatient, and they may be tempted to go around the bus. Is that something legal for drivers to do?
Chief Short: So not only would that be illegal to do, but it would also be extremely dangerous for everybody involved.
It would be dangerous for the driver that's trying to pass. It would be dangerous for the school bus and its occupants. It would be dangerous for any train that's coming. So that is not something that anybody should be considering doing. And then obviously, you've seen a couple of recent incidents where a bus was stopped at a railroad track and the bus got rear ended.
But again, a reminder to all of our drivers that our school buses are not just on the road in the morning, or in the afternoon. We also have school buses throughout the day taking students on field trips, which was the case in both of these last two crashes. So 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.
Team Duval News: Passing the bus at a stop, as you mentioned, is not legal to do. Does that come with consequences such as a citation, a fine, or points on your license?
Chief Short: So, that could result in a driver getting a citation. It could result in points on your license.
Any points on your license will cause your insurance to go up. And, more importantly, it could cause a tragedy. And nobody wants to live with that, nobody wants to cause a tragedy. And in these situations, dealing with very young students, just know that these are young students whose lives can be changed drastically.
Team Duval News: If you were able to make a plea to the student, parents, faculty, staff, anyone about what to be aware of when they approach a railroad crossing, what would that be?
Chief Short: So our message to all of our drivers, all of our students, all of our staff is to be careful.
We’ve been very successful with our Be Safe. Be Seen. campaign, which is addressing our pedestrians and our students that are walking and biking to school. But this is just another level of student safety. So we 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.
They're very visible and [drivers should] expect them to stop at railroad crossings. Be looking out for the stop arms at the bus stops. Know the state law. And we all have to work together to keep our students safe.
Team Duval News created a video highlighting several of Chief Short's key responses and his advice for drivers. You can watch it here: