It happens on a daily basis. Vehicles ignore the school bus stop signs and illegally pass anyway. Putting our children in immediate danger.

Victor Cardillo, Transportation Supervisor for Westmoreland Central Schools claims that his drivers report a passing motorist at least once a week. He says that more often than not, the drivers are distracted, texting or talking on their cell phone. As stated in a previous blog post, distracted driving can be deadly, and is especially frightening when our own young children are involved.

Many drivers report license plates and descriptions of the vehicles to their garages, however, there is plenty of room for error. The bus driver is not always able to get an accurate reading to report the passing motorist. Most violators are merely given a slap on the wrist with a warning.

Today is Lobby Day for a bill called the School Bus Camera Safety Act to promote the safety and well-being of our children, and put these criminals to justice. This bill will allow for schools to have high definition cameras placed onto the stop signs on the side of each school bus. These cameras would produce images of passing vehicles, resulting in tickets for the violators. Currently, tickets can only be issued from police officers witnessing the incident. Funding for this project is still questionable, but local educators hope that this act of legislature would fund struggling school districts in need.

2.3 million pupils, 10% of the nation’s students ride our 50,000 school buses every day. Help us keep our children safe and end the illegal passing of school buses. To have your voice be heard, take a moment to sign this petition on Change.org. You are also encouraged to write a letter to your elected officials to push the importance of this bill. Let’s take action today.

Share this blog with your friends…

Tags: Bus Accidents