Caught on video: Trash truck speeds past stopped school bus
FORTVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — Since school has been back in session in the Mount Vernon school district in Hancock County, cars and trucks almost every single day are disregarding the stop arms on school buses.
One mother is taking matters into her own hands.
“I was just walking out and I saw this car running, like going fast, and I knew they were not going to stop so I came up real quick and recorded them blowing by.”
On Wednesday morning as Lindsey Knight’s children were getting on the school bus, a trash truck driver came barreling down the road. Knight had her phone out as the truck seemingly ignored the stop arms of the school bus. The bus driver hit the horn with no effect on the truck driver.
She posted the video online and contacted the truck company. On Friday morning, the company responded.
“They were going to discuss with all of their drivers and find that specific driver, and ‘thank you’ for the video that I sent them,” Knight said.
Just about every day she says at least one driver ignores the bus stop arm. When drivers ignore the stop arm, she can’t help but remember the crash on State Road 25 just north of Rochester in October 2018 that killed three children and seriously injured a fourth.
“Nobody wants to lose their kids. I don’t want the bus to get hit. Sixty seconds, man, that is all we are asking,” Knight said.
Recently, Indiana State Police stepped up enforcement around schools, with an emphasis on stop arm violators.
Knight has witnessed drivers pass the bus on the right side and the left, even when the stop arm is extended.
In the past couple months, she says, the aggressive behavior has increased. Her youngest is in preschool, and the bus picks her up at 6:10 a.m. “Every morning, the driver has to buckle the kids into the seat, which takes a minute.”
“Actually, this morning there was an SUV. They stopped. They stopped a good way away, but as they saw me back up so they could buckle my kid in, they just keep creeping and creeping and as soon as the stop sign went, they floored it,” Knight said.
The Mount Vernon school district told News 8 it’s investigating the trash truck incident. Also, the school district has made a request for police to patrol the area during bus pickup and drop-off times.