SALT LAKE CITY — Parents are raising concerns about drivers repeatedly failing to stop for school buses unloading children, prompting calls for stricter penalties and increased community awareness.
Charity Buckway, whose daughter is enrolled in the Salt Lake City School District, said she sees drivers blow past stopped school buses on a daily basis.
The problem has gotten so out of hand that she has taken the time to document the violations and plead with people to pay attention and change their driving habits. "Like they just don't care," Buckway said. "I mean, it's kids' safety that you guys are putting in danger," she said.
"We're talking people that are way down the street. The bus has been stopped for at least a minute and they're still just blowing past," Buckway said.
Buckway said she has even stepped into the street to protect students. "I had to stand on the road for these kids because I don't want them to get hit. I would rather get hit than these kids get hit," Buckway said.
The current penalty for not stopping for a bus that is unloading children starts at $1,000, then goes up by $1,000 each additional violation. Buckway does not think the fine is enough. "People, maybe they should start losing their licenses and be punished for it. I mean, it's not cool. It's not fair for these kids," Buckway said.
"You're putting their lives in danger, and I really don't want these kids to get hit," Buckway said.
This is not the first time this issue has been raised. Several months ago, FOX 13 News spoke with Matt Burch, a long-time school bus driver with the Alpine School District, about the very same issue.
Burch said he was considering quitting his job at one point because of the constant violations from drivers putting his students' lives at risk. After sharing his story, Burch said the difference in driving behaviors is night and day.
"But I have been just utterly amazed at the numbers. The numbers are dropping like crazy. So, I was averaging about eight a day. Um, 10 on a bad day, um, you know, one or two on a good day, and I'm telling you, since our story, my numbers have gone down to one, maybe every other week. And the outpouring of the public has been absolutely amazing," Burch said.
"I have two specific letters from younger drivers who went through my lights. And they apologized like crazy, and they just didn't understand the law," Burch said.
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DRIVEN TO CHANGE
