Lakeland Mirror

Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: News

Last Thursday, a Lakeland student illegally passed a school bus during a stop. At College Avenue (County A) and Pershing street in Howards Grove, the driver passed the bus on the right side, as a girl in kindergarten was exiting.

Bus Driver Keith Coop of Harms Incorporated in Howards Grove, saw this, and saved the girl. "I physically jammed the kid in the door to stop her from stepping out," said Coop.

In full, six people witnessed the event Thursday. "I got partial description. One of the people out walking got partial description, and a woman sitting in her living room got the entire description and full license plate number. She phoned it in that night," said Coop.

This is not the first instance of a Lakeland student passing Coop on his routes. Coop does three routes for Howards Grove School District, and last year he tallied 58 people passing the bus when the lights were flashing. With 29 of those vehicles Coop documented the license numbers, and notified the Sheboygan County Sheriff's Department.

"In other words 29 fines were paid. 26 of them were Lakeland College students. The fines range from about $180 to $376," Coop explained. According to Coop, the driver was ticketed, but he does not know whether or not all illegal actions were taken into consideration.

"Passing a bus with lights flashing is one thing, number two, she passed at an intersection, and number three, she doesn't have a license plate on the front of her vehicle. That is illegal," Coop said.

People in Howards Grove have become increasingly upset due to the high speeds people are driving through the 30 mph zone. Parents and towns people have also been watching cars at bus pickup and drop offs. After last week's terrific event, Coop said, "they have armed themselves with cameras." Many of the people watching have said they have seen college tags on the vehicles.

"We have got to educate the kids. I know that girl would have felt really terrible if she
had hit and killed her. And if that little girl had gotten out of there [the bus], there is no doubt in my mind she would be dead," said Coop.

Another statistic Coop found last year was, out of the 58 cars passing the bus during stops, 50 of the drivers had cell phones to their ear. Coop also noted that 50% of "drive-throughs" have been students on M passing the bus to drive into the school.

"I'm really concerned that we're going to get a kid killed, and we came so close to it the other day, it's not funny," Coop concluded.

In response to the near tragic event, Sheboygan police have been waiting on College Avenue with laser speed guns, and shadowing the school buses. Nevertheless, police staffing is low in Howards Grove and educating students on the rules of the road is the best preventative.

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