School Bus Safety

Jeff Krasnow

Contributor

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Last week, a 15 year-old child was struck by a car while crossing Route 11, south of Buchanan, Virginia. The child had been let off of an activity bus from his high school which was stopped there with its lights flashing while the child crossed Route 11, which at that location was a four-lane, 55mph highway. The problem was that it was 6:30 p.m. and it was dark and the high visibility that our yellow school buses have was lost in the darkness. The driver who hit this young man mistook the school bus with its flashing red lights and strobe light for an ambulance and therefore did not stop. The child's injuries are devastating.

We are recommending to Governor Kaine and our legislators that school buses be prohibited from dropping children off after dark where they will have to cross highways where cars travel at high rates of speed. The issue should be the safety of our children, not the convenience of the school transportation system.

I urge concerned citizens to write Governor Kaine and their legislators urging them to get the law changed to make sure this tragedy is never repeated.