School Busses are being hit more and more
On Friday October 7th a Watauga County School Bus was struck on the 105 bypass while picking up students.
Fortunately no one was injured and the bus was able to be transported back to the lot despite it's superficial damage. Watauga County Schools Superintendent Scott Elliot spoke with me regarding this incident and how the rate at which local school buses are being hit has been steadily rising in recent years. He said that there has been a marked increase in vehicles striking a stopped bus within the past year. In addition to this numbers of instances where cars pass stopped busses using their stop sign has gone up as well. Passing a stopped school bus actively picking up students causes great danger to the students. Elliot mentioned how school busses are equipped with several onboard cameras that are used to record such instances and that they proscute those caught passing busses. Elliot requests drivers to be mindful of school busses and reassures us that statistically they are still the safest way to transport students to and from school.
