WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — Drivers are behaving badly around school buses in Pasco County and one local mom says it’s putting kids at risk.
Maria Sanchez, who lives in the Bridgeview subdivision off Curley Road has been using her cell phone to capture video of drivers as they blow past school buses in the morning and afternoon.
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"It’s been making me very frustrated,” she said.
ABC Action News compiled seven different videos that show the impatient drivers. They either don't stop at all when the bus has its lights flashing and stop signs out, or they go into the wrong lane to get around the bus.
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"It’s very difficult for the bus drivers to do their job safely and making sure that the kids arrive to their home safely,” Sanchez said.
She says bus drivers have been documenting the situations on paper to hand to their supervisors.
ABC Action News reporter Heather Leigh first caught up with Sanchez back in February about the scary situation. She says two of her kids have autism and will get excited and try to run for the bus when it arrives. She says her son has even run in front of the bus before.
"Autism it’s unpredictable. Many times you either have a good day and it’s just small little things that make a whole lot of a difference for them,” she said.
She tries very hard to teach them to wait with her until the bus and cars around come to a complete stop. After we first did our original report, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office sent deputies to the bus stop the next morning but Sanchez says she hasn’t seen deputies sit and watch what drivers do during bus stop hours.
"When something something actually happens, that’s when everybody makes changes, oh that’s too bad or it’s terrible the news that a child was hit by a car when it could’ve been prevented!” Sanchez said.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office sent a statement saying when deputies are in sight, people tend to obey the law, which makes catching someone that blows past a bus very difficult.
The captain of the district says they will order more enforcement in that area during school bus stop times, but other calls-for-service at the time could impact how often the can make it out.
"A lot of people don’t know about the rules and regulations of school buses and they need to get more educated and [be] more careful," she said.
If you are on a two-lane road or multi-lane without a barrier, vehicles traveling in both directions must stop. The only time cars traveling in the opposite direction of a bus don’t need to stop is when there is a barrier separating the lanes.
