National School Bus Safety Week: Keeping kids safe to and from school

CALEDONIA, Miss. (WCBI) – Parents and students often rely on school transportation to get to class on time. This week marks National School Bus Safety Week. So, this reminds us of the importance of keeping our children safe while traveling to and from school.

“It’s weekly that I get a phone call of a car passing a bus stop sign. Or a car turning out in front of the bus,” said Randy Finch, Caledonia Middle School Assistant Principal.

And that’s why Finch was cautioning drivers to pay attention to the buses around them.

“One of our bus drivers called and said that she had to get over in the ditch because a dump truck was coming too fast around the curve and went between the bus and another car. And this was after the bus driver let the student off,” said Finch.

However, Finch said this situation could have been much worse if there had been children on the bus.

“A kid’s life is not worth 15 and 20 seconds to pass a bus stop sign,” said Finch.

Because people do not adhere to the warning lights or even the stop sign, schools are having to use technology to catch violators.

“That’s actually a programable camera. You can program the camera to start recording when the stop sign comes out of that particular one. The way I have programmed it works all the time when the engine is on,” said Dennis Aldridge, Transportation Supervisor.

If you are caught by the bus cameras speeding around or passing the stop sign, it could cost you in court.

The Lowndes County bus supervisor said the buses will receive a dash cam upgrade to help get a wider view of driving violators.

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