TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A bill has been introduced by state Rep. Chuck Chestnut to prohibit school bus stops from being located directly on certain state-maintained roads.

HB 627 would require that beginning July 1, 2009, new school bus stops not be established directly on a state-maintained road with a speed limit of 55 miles per hour or greater. Existing bus stops would have to conform to the same requirement beginning in the 2011-12 school year.

Chestnut filed the bill in memory of a student who was killed when an 18-wheeler truck crashed into her school bus, which was stopped at a bus stop on a four-lane highway with its stop arm and warning lights activated.

An identical version of the bill has been introduced in the Senate. The House version of the bill has been referred to an education policy committee.

To read the bill in its entirety, click here.