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Brownsburg mom’s video shows drivers ignoring school bus stop arms

Ignoring school bus stop arms in Brownsburg, Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Driving around school bus arms puts children’s lives in danger. One Brownsburg mom says she’s watched it happen day after day and has seen enough.

Charity Cayse says unless there’s a police car sitting at Seumin and Main, it’s almost without fail that a car is going to fly past her daughter’s school bus. On Monday, she captured phone video of a car doing just that.

The video shows a frustrated bus driver trying to honk at oncoming traffic to alert them to the stop arm. One car manages to make it through as Cayse’s daughter boards the school bus.

“It’s very apparent she’s sitting there,” Cayse said. “She’s stopped. Lights are flashing. Stop sign’s out. But people tend to speed down through here and they just keep going. And it’s not just one car. It’s usually two to three cars at a time.”

In the video, the bus picks up a group of kids about 50 feet down the road then stops again at the corner. The frequent stops may frustrate drivers, but Cayse says it shouldn’t matter.

“I understand when her arm goes in, there’s going to be two or three people that go past,” Cayse said. “I get it. But by the time her bus stops here and they put the sign back out, lights are flashing, people that come up to right here, they just keep going.”

Cayse says police acted as soon as she made a formal complaint.

“They (police) sit along the bus route here and Friday morning, it went a lot smoother,” Cayse said. “They stopped like they were supposed to. But then Monday morning….”

Cayse posted the video to social media in frustration, where she received both support and opposition.

“Some people say I’m being petty,” Cayse said. “I don’t think I’m being petty. When it comes to children’s lives, there’s nothing petty about that. And I’m going to scream as loud as I can.”

Cayse says if it happens at her bus stop, she’s sure it happens at others, everybody needs to speak up, no matter how small they feel the issue is.

“Even though you don’t get their plate number. Even though, maybe, you don’t get it on video, please bring it to someone’s attention because it is a problem. It is a huge problem and it needs to be taken care of,” Cayse said.

Cayse says a police officer was at the bus stop Tuesday morning, and things went better. She says she knows they won’t always be around to stop traffic. If you see the lights flashing and the stop arm out, stop.