Local bus driver gets ready to keep students safe

COLUMBIA COUNTY. (WRDW/WAGT) - With kids going back to school, the big yellow buses are going to be back on the roads.

Last year, over 11,000 school bus drivers say drivers illegally passed by, and for kids crossing the street that’s dangerous.

It’s almost time for Columbia County Bus Driver Cheryl Ledington to fill the empty seats inside her school bus.

“When you’re picking up students and dropping them off, that’s the most dangerous part of this process,” she said.

As kids come and go off her bus, she feels responsible to teach proper safety measures.

“We do teach them every day. Whenever I drop a student off, I always say watch my hand. We teach hand signals. We teach a certain way to check traffic. We teach where they should walk, and how many steps they should take. It’s very serious. We teach our children to take it very seriously,” said Ledington.

It’s the other drivers on the road she wishes would follow the same rules.

“It’s really scary because you’re sitting in the seat, and you’re helpless. If they’re not paying attention, you can’t stop them,” she said

If you see a school bus on your side of the road or the opposite side stopped with flashing red lights, officials say you must hit the brakes.

Robert Hydrick, Communications Director with Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety said: “We want to make sure children get to and from school safely every day. So when that bus has that stop arms out and the lights activate, please stop when Georgia law requires you to.”

As yellow school buses start to fill the roads, drivers like Ledington want to ensure all passengers arrive at school safely and arrive home safely.

“If you’re not sure if you should stop, stop anyway. It doesn’t take more than 10 to 30 seconds for us to complete our job and make sure our students are safe,” she said.

For Richmond County, the Richmond County sheriff’s traffic division wants to remind drivers of what to do when they approach a school bus that is stopped to pick up students on different types of roadways.

Copyright 2022 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.