Coweta Parent Raises Safety Concerns Over Bus Stop

A Coweta parent is concerned about a bus stop that lets her kids off on a busy highway.

She says it's not uncommon to see drivers speed past the bus as it's letting her kids off. Every day after school, Renee McBay's two kids are let off the bus on Highway 72 just south of Coweta.

"It's a safety concern for especially elementary-aged kids, but I mean any kid in general," says McBay.

McBay says this stretch of Highway sees a lot of traffic, including big trucks that don't always stop for the bus. The school bus can't make it down her road because it's a dead end, so McBay hopes safety measures can be put in to make it a safer bus stop for her kids.

"It's a big concern and I just can't get anybody to say 'yes, we can help you with something whether that be patrolling or adding signs to the highway or whatever it may be, I just need somebody to help," McBay says.

Rick Greene is the transportation director for Coweta Public Schools and says a lot of drivers don't realize what the law is when a school bus is stopped.

"They're just thinking it's one way. I don't think people really realize that on a two-lane road they have to stop so hopefully, this will be good to let everyone know that if you're on a two-lane road and you see a bus stopped, you have to stop both ways," Greene says.

He says installing bus stop signs probably wouldn't help too much, but some new technology for buses might.

"As we order new buses, we order cameras that will be mounted somewhere on the side of the bus and at the back of the bus where it gets a picture of the driver and as it passes by a picture of the tag."

He says three buses like that will come sometime next year. In the meantime, Renee McBay hopes something will be done to keep her kids safe.

"That's my number one job as their parent is to keep them safe, everybody has worries about school these days, and I would hope that a bus stop is the least of them," says McBay.