Road safety is not something to be taken lightly.
That’s why we put so much effort into teaching our kids how to be safe when walking on roads.
There are plenty of rules they must learn.
Look left and right before crossing to avoid running into vehicles.
Obey pedestrian traffic lights, stop signs, and crossing guides.
Cross only at the zebra crossings or overhead bridges.
The list goes on and on!
It’s for good reason, too.
Approximately 136 individuals are involved in road accidents involving school vehicles every single year, which includes those young kids that board and disembark from school buses on the daily.
It seems like such a small number when you think of the 26 million school students who use school buses daily, but 136 families still grieve the loss of their children every year.
Laws have since been enforced in order to provide protection to bus-taking students, but many drivers and motorists don’t quite care to keep them.
One law is that vehicles should not continue to drive when a school bus is stopped.
Instead, they should wait until the bus has taken off again before continuing on their way to avoid hitting students getting on and off.
Parents, school district workers, and bus drivers have tirelessly complained about the fact that many cars continue to break this rule, but they are rarely ever heard.
That is why some members of these communities have decided to take the lead in solving this issue.
One such school district has provided authorization to their bus drivers to park in a specific way when they stop for children to climb onto or off of their buses in order to prevent cars from zipping past.
Parent John R. Roleau recently posted a video of the bus driver who picks up his children performing this maneuver.
The video, which has been shared more than 30,000 times and picked up a whopping 1.8 million views, shows the driver positioning his bus so he takes up the entire road as it stops to let kids get on or off.
Roleau writes in his caption that he would like to express his gratitude for the solution that the district and bus driver have come up with the lessen the risks and dangers involved for children, especially due to recent school bus accidents.
He added that though he knows this isn’t a completely foolproof plan, it is more likely for a large bus to be spotted by drivers than a stop sign or hurried small children running across the road.
Comments from fellow parents praised the driver, but some disagree, stating that the act of parking across the whole road is likely not very legal.
However, most are in agreement that a potential traffic ticket is much more worth the risk than a child’s life.
For now, Roleau and fellow parents have added peace of mind, knowing that their kids are that much more safe as they make their trips to and from school every day.
