46% Of School Bus-Riding Kids Report Almost Being Hit By Reckless Drivers Who Ignored Flashing Lights

Supposedly, the U.S. cares about protecting children. You certainly hear plenty of Republican politicians ranting about it on the news, but it's also obvious they don't believe a word they say. If they actually cared about kids, they wouldn't be demanding the federal government have the power to dictate who can play on an elementary school soccer team. They'd be worried about actual threats to kids' lives, like the fact that in a new survey, nearly half of school bus-riding kids experienced a close encounter with a reckless driver in a school zone or near a school bus. 

The survey in question comes from the Governors Highway Safety Association, and if you don't think kids should have to live with a fear of being run over just trying to get to school, the report is incredibly concerning. The survey found that 46% of children have experienced close calls with reckless drivers at bus stops or in school zones. Which isn't quite half, but it's a lot closer to half than any of us should feel comfortable with. Additionally, among all school children (not just the ones who ride the bus), the survey found that 36% of school-age children had experienced a similar close call, and 43% of parents said they knew another child who'd nearly been hit.

And don't tell these parents those drivers simply don't realize they're speeding through school zones or blowing past parked school buses. When parents were asked why they thought so many people love driving dangerously around kids, 53% said they think it's because drivers don't think they'll ever get caught. Which generally tracks if you've gone out in public recently and met members of the general public. Those are other people's kids, after all, not ones worth caring about. 

For some reason, the parents in question were also big fans of pretty much any idea that could force dangerous drivers to behave less recklessly. In fact, no suggested safety countermeasure polled lower than 88%. More than nine in 10 parents (92%) support a public safety campaign, 91% of parents surveyed said they support automatic ticketing of any driver who ignores the crossing arm and flashing lights, 90% want cops visible and monitoring both school zones and bus stops, and 88% support using speed cameras to cut down on speeders. 

As GHSA CEO Jonathan Adkins put it in a statement:

Parents are telling us that dangerous driving around school buses and school zones is not an abstract concern but something their children are experiencing firsthand. Educating motorists about safe driving around school buses and in school zones is essential to safer streets, but these findings confirm that parents also want meaningful accountability when drivers put children at risk. With another school year underway, communities are encouraged to use every proven tool and technology available to help make the trip to and from school safer.

It's also worth remembering that these are small children we're talking about, and even a close call can be traumatizing. At least let 'em make it to high school before they decide no one in the world would care if they were dead. And as with so many close calls, the stories GHSA heard from parents make it clear that many of these examples could have easily ended with a child's funeral if something had gone ever so slightly differently:

"A couple of years ago, my neighbor's child was stepping off the bus and starting to cross thetwo-lane residential street. The bus had its red lights flashing and the stop sign arm fullyextended. A distracted driver in an SUV completely ignored the bus signals and sped right pastthe driver's side of the bus. Luckily, the bus driver honked the horn loudly, which made the childfreeze in place just in time as the car flew by."

"My child was getting on the bus and someone tried passing on the side my child was walking onand almost struck my child."

"[A] child was crossing in front of the bus while the lights were flashing and the stop sign wasout. A car swerved and came within feet of the child."

Since we're talking about kids here, you'd think it wouldn't be too controversial to automatically ticket school-zone speeders and drivers who don't stop for school buses, but this is America, so best of luck with that. Dangerous drivers hate being told not to speed, and they hate safer infrastructure even more than that. Heck, Tesla's had years to fix its so-called "Full Self-Driving" software's love of blowing past stopped school buses, and it hasn't even bothered to do that. 

What's worse is that our federal and state attorneys general don't seem to care all that much. Where's the federal ban on FSD until Tesla can prove it can safely detect and stop for school buses? That seems like a pretty basic ask that's easy enough to accomplish, at least compared to rolling out automated cameras on school buses. But even the Republicans reading this know that'll never happen while Republicans run the country. 

Our country's refusal to blame or punish reckless drivers is even baked into the language we use every day. If a speeding driver distracted by the latest AI slop on their Facebook feed hit and killed six kids, you and I both know it would still get called an "accident." At best, we might get a headline like, "Collision With Vehicle At Bus Stop Results In Six Fatalities," completely letting the driver off the hook. 

Back in my day, we used to have an idiom that said, "Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins," and it still makes sense to me. Do what you want until your actions hurt others or literally threaten children's lives, but as a society, that's where we have to draw the line. Even if it means you don't get to speed through school zones without getting a ticket.