Bill aims to stop, "unacceptable" school bus accidents

Oklahoma City, Okla — A bill moving its way through the state legislature right now might help stop school bus related crashes.

This comes just days after a fifteen-year-old student at Stillwater was hit by a car after stepping off a school bus.

Like the way a toll booth tags drivers who don't pay, school buses could now have the option to add cameras, which could catch and fine drivers who put children's lives at risk.

According to Shawnee Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. April Grace, "We are always concerned about the safety of students, and so anything that does that, obviously we want to do."

The flashing lights and stop signs aren't enough, educators say.

Thousands of kids around the nation get hurt every year because drivers just don't stop.

"People get comfortable,” Grace said, “They think they know what that bus is doing, especially if it's somebody who lives in that neighborhood and they might choose to continue to go around it because they may assume a student is not going to come across the street."

Representative Dell Kerbs, a republican from Shawnee said, "That's unacceptable."

House Bill 1926 was written by Kerbs, who is a former bus driver at Shawnee.

He added, "At the end of the day our goal is to protect these kids. And this is a serious problem."

Under this potential new law, once a driver is flagged, a $100 fine will be sent to them in the mail. Seventy-five percent of that money will go back into a fund, that will buy more cameras for more busses.

"I'd love to be able to see that account never get any money,” Kerbs explained, “but as the money comes in it's going back to help the problem."

The bill was introduced just one day after the accident that left a Stillwater student hospitalized. Educators said they hope this law would stop this from happening again.

"We are excited to see where this goes, and again for us it's really just about the safety of students. And we always want safety of students first," Grace said.