KINGSLAND, Ga. – A Kingsland, Georgia, mom is raising the alarm after she said she’s witnessed the same driver ignoring the school bus stop arm multiple times, causing a potentially dangerous situation for children at the bus stop.
Lindsay Phillips said the first time she saw it happen was during the first week of school, so she gave the driver the benefit of the doubt.
But after it happened two more times, she decided to order a dashcam for her vehicle, so she could capture it if it happened again.
On Friday, it did, she said.
Phillips shared the video with News4JAX showing a white sedan driving past the bus in the opposite direction as the bus begins to extend its stop arm on the two-lane road.
Children at the stop are already approaching the edge of the street when the car speeds past them.
“It’s honestly quite scary,“ Phillips said. “A kid could have run out into the road that day. One of my own kids was skipping toward the road and could have walked out, and you would have hit them.”
Phillips said the reason she got the camera was to make sure she had proof for law enforcement.
“Just in case it happens again, you’ll have the evidence for it and stuff like that because you can’t go to the cops and be like I witnessed this,” Phillips said. “I seen them do it.”
News4JAX sent the video to Ben McCorkel to analyze. He’s a former deputy in Nassau and Putnam counties and the current owner of Northeast Florida Safety Training.
“What the school bus does as they’re stopping, they throw the lights on to indicate they are going to stop,” McCorkel said. “And (drivers) should anticipate that and go ahead and slow down and be prepared to stop. “
News4JAX has reached out to the Camden County School District to find out if their school buses are equipped with cameras to flag bus stop arm violators. We’re waiting to hear back.
We have also contacted the Camden County Sheriff’s Office to find out if the driver has been identified and cited after Phillips reported her concerns.
We were unable to learn if the driver had been identified, but the Sheriff’s Office said extra security checks will be taking place on Harrietts Bluff Road in the future.