MICH — Sending your kids off to the bus stop shouldn’t be a concern for parents. Every year we always talk about how to be safe around school buses on the road, but the problem continues to be prevalent.
Governor Whitmer signing House Bills 4928, 4929 and 4930 will help enforce school bus cameras being added to school buses.
FOX 17’s Waleed Alamleh spoke with bus drivers in Grand Rapids, as well as a Michigan state trooper to see just how prevalent this issue is.
The bus stop can be a dangerous place for kids, especially when drivers aren’t paying attention, but with the help of some new laws signed into place, the state is looking to curb an all-too-common violation that’s putting your kids' lives at risk.
The start of a school day usually starts with getting on the bus and seeing your favorite driver like Kimberly Saunders.
“These kids are our kids,” said Saunders. “We are carrying precious cargo every day. A lot of people carry packages, they carry mail, but we have something more precious than that.”
She’s been driving a school bus for 17 years now, but unfortunately one thing continues to stay the same: drivers are not stopping for the bus.
“We're just letting our students off the bus, and some of them have to cross the street,” said Saunders. “They can go in many different directions, and to know that you're watching, you're looking, you're listening, and all of a sudden you have a student crossing, and a car comes flying by. We don't get a second chance to redo an incident like that.”
Current Michigan law prohibits drivers from passing a school bus that is stopped and has its red lights flashing. That includes on both sides of a two-way street. It also states drivers must stop at least 20 feet away from the bus. They can only resume driving once the lights are off and the bus begins to move.
But drivers continue to break the law, like this video taken in Allendale showing multiple cars driving by a school bus that has its arm out — and kids getting on the bus!
It’s something police statewide have started to notice on their patrols.
“I’ve actually been stopped by school bus drivers on their routes,” said Sixth District Michigan State Trooper Jacob Choice. “The bus drivers explained how motorists are driving past their school bus when their arms and the lights are out. So I’ve been requested to follow them on their routes to try to catch these motorists that's blatantly just disregarding their stop signs.”
Now laws were already signed into place in 2021 that allowed for school buses to be equipped with stop-arm cameras, but now there are some adjustments that will be made. Fines collected from the camera violations will now go back to the school districts, in hopes of adding more cameras in place.
With these adjustments, companies like Dean Transportation, which focuses on busing Grand Rapids Public Schools, can now work to add cameras in the district.
“If we don't take additional steps now, there is that potential something catastrophic could happen, which we all want to avoid,” said Christopher Dean, director of innovation.
And that couldn’t make drivers like Saunders happier.
“These could be your kids. They could be my kids. They're the neighborhood kids,” Saunders said. “We take care of everybody. So, we want people to be safe. We want kids to make it home from school.”
Officials hope these new laws will help create more conversation and awareness to an already common problem. Dean Transportation will continue working on a timeline for deployment of cameras on GRPS buses, while details and requirements of the new law are put in place.
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