State lawmakers are considering a bill increasing the penalties for passing a school bus as it picks up or drops off students.
Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler reports.
Audrey Napier’s 11-year-old granddaughter Lizzie Robertson-Rutland was run down and died while walking to her school bus in Columbus one early morning in September.
“We don’t want any other family to have to go through what we are dealing with right now. It’s very hard for us. It’s a very emotional time for us. And we support this bill because we want our children to be safe.”
Napier told a Senate committee she supports the bill, which also has the backing of school groups. It would create the felony of vehicular harm for drivers who hit a child when passing a stopped bus, and double the fines for passing one. 4200 Ohio drivers were ticketed for doing that between 2015 and 2017.
