Driver passing school bus at a stop sign angers kids, parents

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Dash cam captures the van passing a school bus at a stop sign. (Credit: Pete Jones)
Dash cam captures the van passing a school bus at a stop sign. (Credit: Pete Jones)

Kids and parents in Golden Gate Estates are fired up tonight over careless driving caught on camera. A minivan cut in front of a school bus and other drivers to get ahead in line and the driver only got a warning from a deputy.

Even some young students we spoke to know this kind of driving could get someone hurt or worse. Although it is usually parents who beg for drivers to stop, this time it is children.

VIDEO: Driver caught passing a school bus in Golden Gate Estates

Cason and Bailey Barnard are elementary school siblings. They ride the bus home together from Palmetto Ridge Elementary School every day and have a question for drivers.

“Would you rather wait or would you rather have the chance of running someone over?” Cason said.

The 7-year-old and the 9-year-old are begging dangerous drivers to think about them next time they are behind a bus transporting children.

A driver in a van was caught on camera Friday, in Golden Gate Estates at 23rd St. SW and 16th Ave., whip around a car waiting behind a school bus at a stop sign.

“It just made me kind of mad,” Bailey said, “because I’m a kid and whoever did that could’ve injured another kid.”

Collier County deputies told WINK News they pulled the van over and gave the driver a verbal warning for improperly passing traffic. CCSO said the bus was not stopped because it was either letting students off or about to let the children out. It was stopped because there is a stop sign at the corner.

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Here is the full statement from CCSO:

This did not generate a written report, but we can provide the following details about this traffic stop made on May 15:

In this situation, the bus was not stopped because it was about to or in the process of letting students off the bus. It was stoped [sic] because there is a stop sign at the corner of 23rd Street SW.

The deputy pulled the driver of the minivan over as he noticed the minivan was pulling around this traffic at this stop sign. This traffic included multiple vehicles the minivan had passed.

The deputy used officer discretion to issue the driver a verbal warning as opposed to issuing a citation.

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“I don’t want it to happen to anyone, especially my family because that would just leave me speechless,” Cason said.

Thankfully no one was hurt. Parents said it should have been a ticket and kids agree.

“I felt kind of angry because they could’ve killed someone,” Bailey said.

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