New bus safety law a good thing for state

By Staff
As Franklin County students head back to the classroom this morning, things will be a little safer on their morning commute – hopefully.
A new law passed in the last legislative session will take affect Sunday, cracking down on cars that habitually pass stopped school buses.
The most dangerous part of a school bus ride is when it stops to load or unload students. Motorists who illegally passed a stopped school bus have injured or killed 11 Alabama children since 1998.
No child or family should ever experience such a tragedy thanks to the carelessness of a motorist.
Thankfully, neither the city nor county schools have experienced such tragedies, and haven't had an accident this year.
But both county transportation director Johnny Hester and Russellville transportation director Don Cox agree something needed to be done.
Both cited cars regularly passing stopped school buses, often with the stop arm out and children hopping off and on the bus.
According to an Illegal Passing Survey from the Alabama Department of Education, there were 1,862 documented illegal passes of school buses on one day in 2005.
Thanks to the new and tougher law, motorists who endanger our children's lives by passing school buses will be fined and possibly lose their drivers license.
Stopping for school bus is chapter one material of the driver education handbook and something we all learned before we were issued a driver's license.
If you didn't learn that at 16, you don't need to be on the roads anyway.