Alarmingly close calls have been caught on camera, showing kids almost getting hit as they step off the school bus.
This school year, the topic made national headlines after multiple students were hit and killed in a matter of days.
"It's a state law. It's children getting on a school bus. One is unacceptable,” said Bryan Carter.
Carter is fed up. He's an Olympia school bus driver who said he sees cars illegally pass his stop paddle almost every day.
“You start looking at the overall numbers, and you realize this is just insane how many people are running through my stop paddle,” he said.
This school year, he started keeping tabs. Even he was shocked by the numbers.
“Forty-three people run through my stop paddle in only 18 days of school in the month of September. That's an unacceptable number for an entire year, let alone a month," he said.
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Nationwide, the numbers are even more alarming.
According to the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, on a single school day bus drivers reported 83,944 vehicles passed their stop paddles illegally. That adds up to more than 15 million violations every school year.
More than 400 children nationwide have been killed by drivers passing a stopped school bus over the past four decades, according to the Institute for Transportation Research and Education.
Last year, the deadly consequences made national headlines. Five kids were killed and seven others injured in less than a week.
“It gives me chills to think about how I would feel if one of my kids got hit. It's beyond my comprehension,” said Carter.
It's also Rachel Bailey's biggest fear.
"It could be our kids any day, you never know,” she said.
Her son, Tyler Bailey, rides Carter's school bus. She watches cars fly past her son's stop on Wiggins Road Southeast.
After a few close calls, she started taking video and quickly caught drivers in the act.
“Sometimes they're on their phone, other times they look right at you and they still don't stop, it's almost like they're saying, 'It's chicken, OK, I'm going to keep going,'” Bailey said.
Bailey's son's bus stop had so many issues, the Olympia School District recently changed the entire bus route. Students used to get off on the bus and cross Wiggins Road Southeast, but after too many close calls, they rerouted the stop. Now students get dropped off on the other side of the road.
“It's going to take a child getting hurt before they take action or take notice that this is an issue,” said Bailey.
Olympia police Sgt. Bryan Wyllie said protecting kids is the department's top priority. They've stepped up enforcement to crack down on reckless driving.
People who get caught illegally passing a school bus stop paddle face a $419 fine, even if an officer didn't see it.
"Most laws, an officer needs to observe the infraction, so they have to be present, which is a challenge. In this one, we can rely on the statements of the driver of the bus and confirm the information reasonably and actually cite the driver that way,” he said.
Wyllie wants everyone to be more aware of the dangers. He said parents also need to stress the threat to their kids.
"It's constant conversations that help us out. When those conversations kind of stop and we have priorities other directions and we're not really paying attention to that daily routine that we're doing, that's when bad things happen to us,” he said.
Carter said he'll continue paying attention and counting the number of cars illegally passing through his stop paddle. He said he plans to take the numbers to lawmakers to push for harsher penalties.
He never wants to see another bus stop tragedy happen again.
“We all take ownership of the responsibility that we feel for these kids and anything ever happened, it'd be devastating,” said Carter.
Olympia School District officials said they’re looking into adding automated school bus stop paddle cameras. They’re currently pricing the technology and hope to partner with local law enforcement to add another safeguard for students.
The School Bus Stop Arm Safety Camera Program is currently used by the Seattle School District.
The district said the goal of the program is to improve the safety and transportation of students riding school buses.
The district piloted the program during the 2016-17 school year by randomly selecting 10 buses. In 112 school days, 595 vehicles dangerously passed school buses.
Cox Media Group
