Florida joins other states across the country to observe National School Bus Safety Week on Oct. 20-24, 2014. The special week commemorates the safe service that school buses provide to families, as they provide one of the safest modes of transportation for children.
According to a Florida Department of Education survey conducted in April 2012, more than 21,000 drivers illegally passed school buses on a one day survey. That represents over 3.7 million possible violations by motorists in Florida during the 180-day school year. Each illegal pass-by could result in a tragic injury or fatality of a student. The inconvenience of an extra few seconds spent waiting for a stopped school bus is insignificant compared to the loss of a child’s life, which is why Florida’s departments of Education, Transportation, and Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, have teamed up to develop the Stop on Red, Kids Ahead campaign to remind drivers of the laws and safe practices to take when approaching a school bus.