Houston County Sheriff’s Office Asking Drivers to “Respect the Bus”
PERRY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Houston County sheriff’s office and the school board are taking extra measures to keep kids safe as they ride the bus.
Houston County school officials say they’ve poured through data saying bus related fatalities for students in Georgia have led the nation for the past two years.
Officials all over the county say they have had enough, and they’re teaming up with law enforcement to put an end to it.
Students in Houston County have to stay alert when they’re headed to and from school.
The journey from their front door to the school bus can be a dangerous one.
Cars speed past the busses daily while students cross the road, and their safety is in jeopardy.
The Houston County sheriff’s office is pushing for drivers to “respect the bus.”
Tom Walmer is the director of transportation for Houston County schools. He says the sheriff’s office’s efforts will get the word out.
“The more sense and awareness we can get out there and work on getting the word out, then the more people thinking about it, then obviously we’re going to have safer bus stops,” Walmer said.
Safer bus stops and busses that are newly equipped with front and back ready cameras that watch when vehicles speed by.
“ATS is going to work with us and provide us with data on a regular basis so we can know which of our busses at which locations is having the most issues,” Walmer said.
When cars are caught passing a bus with the stop sign arm out and lights on, they can face huge fines of up to a thousand dollars.
The efforts to boost school bus safety come as Georgia led the nation in school bus related fatalities for the past two consecutive years.
“Georgia’s numbers were too high again this last year and once the national data is in, unfortunately Georgia will probably lead the nation again for three consecutive years for student fatalities,” Walmer said.
He says he hopes drivers pay attention and realize that stop really means stop.
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