pay attention — school bus tragedy in Indiana
Two days ago there was tragic school bus incident in Columbus, IN that resulted in a student fatality. The 16 year-old girl was struck and killed while attempting to board a bus that was fully stopped with its stop arms extended. The driver of the hit-run vehicle, Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramarni, was found and arrested.
A horrible tragedy — so very sad.
Having driven a school bus for a number of years, I couldn’t tell you how many times my stop arm was disregarded. Seriously… you would think if a driver sees a huge yellow tin can with amber and red flashing lights they’d slow down. Many choose to speed up instead. Most would tell me later when I confronted them (only in a small town does THIS happen), that they didn’t see the school bus or the flashing lights. DIDN’T SEE ME!
When my bus students had to cross the road in front of the bus to get on, they knew to watch for me to give them a nod before stepping into the road. Even with that, I had close calls that resulted in me being so scared my legs turned to jello and shook.
The closest call I had was as I was headed north on Bethany Road, a well-traveled two-lane county road. I had pulled to a stop with lights flashing and stop arm extended when I noticed a large truck headed our way and not slowing down. My bus student was looking me in the eye waiting for my signal, and his mother was holding a baby standing outside with him. I shook my head no — indicating he should wait — and glanced back up at the truck.
The boy was probably 7 years-old at the time and was standing close the road but had not yet stepped into it. The truck was still not slowing down. I smashed on the horn and didn’t let up. At the last possible moment, the Mom grabbed her kid and pulled him back as an 84 Lumber truck zoomed by so close it actually hit the stop arm, bending the metal and slamming it into the side of the bus. The dude finally figured out what he did and stopped — pretty far behind the bus by the time he got the big truck full of lumber slowed down.
The police were called, another bus and driver finished the route, and I had to be drug/alcohol tested. The driver?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened to him. He didn’t even get a ticket.
During that time, to report a driver who passed a school bus stop arm you had to have their license plate number. (No clue if you still do.) That feat is nearly impossible since you’d have to be able to read it from your rear view mirror — or hope a kind witness or parent called the police for you. Even after a close call when I HAD the license number, the law wasn’t enforced.
In 2019, long after I retired from that job, Indiana lawmakers approved tougher penalties for drivers who pass school buses with extended stop arms. This came after three children were fatally struck while crossing a highway to board a bus. I hope the current laws are now being enforced — otherwise, the tougher penalties mean nothing.
