Driver passes stopped school bus, nearly hits child in Florida

A driver illegally passed a stopped school bus on Simmons Loop in Riverview and nearly struck a child who was crossing the road as students boarded, a close call the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said “was not just a mistake” and “could have ended in tragedy.”

Deputies released dash-camera video of the April 17 incident and said a Notice of Violation was issued. The footage captured a vehicle moving past the bus despite the danger zone around children entering and leaving the stopped vehicle. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister’s agency said drivers who ignore stopped school buses are gambling with a child’s life.

The episode fits a broader safety failure that keeps surfacing across the country. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says every state requires motorists to stop when a school bus is displaying flashing red lights and its stop arm is extended. Yet the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services estimated more than 43.5 million illegal school-bus passings in the United States during the 2022-2023 school year, a figure that underscores how often the law is being ignored.

In Hillsborough County, school officials say they are trying to change that behavior before citations begin. Hillsborough County Public Schools says its school bus safety program combines education and enforcement, backed by an extensive public service announcement campaign before the first citation is issued. The district’s approach reflects a familiar problem for school transportation officials: warnings, cameras, and enforcement all matter, but none of them work if motorists still treat a stopped bus as optional.

The Riverview near miss puts that gap in sharp relief. A child crossing Simmons Loop came dangerously close to being hit, and the sheriff’s office moved quickly to publicize the video as a warning. With millions of illegal passings still being recorded nationwide, the central question is not whether the law exists. It is whether drivers will be stopped, cited, and deterred before one reckless passing turns fatal.