After near miss, school bus driver warns against illegal passing on social media

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — A school bus driver turned to social media to warn motorists to use more caution after one of the students on her bus was nearly struck by a car while deboarding, WFLA reports.

On Monday, Robyn Russ was dropping off a student when a motorist illegally passed her bus on the passenger side, disregarding the extended stop arm, the news source reports. Russ told WFLA that she screamed the student’s name and told him to get back on the bus, and that if she hadn’t been paying attention, the motorist would have struck the student. The motorist kept driving, but Russ got the tag number on the motorist’s vehicle and reported it to authorities, according to the news source. Russ added that motorists run her stop arms on a daily basis.

Russ told WFLA she hopes her message is heard, and that “these are their neighbors’ children getting off the bus, and they’re putting their lives at risk.” Pasco County Schools spokeswoman Linda Cobbe told the news source that everyone should know to stop when the bus lights flash and the stop arm goes out, and that it’s “amazing that we’re still having to put this out there.”

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