A dramatic video showing a Red Clay student thrown to the ground after a driver hits her school bus shows why it's so dangerous to pass stopped buses, the district says.

The footage, captured by cameras inside the bus in 2017 and released in a district public service announcement, shows the girl, Laura, walking up to the school bus and preparing to board it. There are screams as the bus is hit by a car, and Laura is thrown to the ground.

The most dangerous point of a child’s commute to school is when they are getting on or off a school bus, said Red Clay Assistant Superintendent Ted Ammann, who oversees transportation for the district.

“That’s when a kid can get hurt,” he said in an announcement about the PSA. “We often talk with our drivers and ask them how we can make the trip to school safer. Our drivers have reported that motorists frequently pass stopped school buses with their stop arms out and red lights flashing.”

Drivers illegally passing a school bus in Delaware could soon be caught on camera

That's one reason why Red Clay School District is teaming up with state Rep. Kim Williams, D-Newport, to support new legislation that would allow public schools in Delaware to use external camera systems on school buses to catch drivers that illegally pass them.

House Bill 111, to be called “Laura’s Law," would then punish those drivers by issuing a civil penalty. They would get fined $250 for the first violation, then an additional $250 per offense, not to exceed $750 within a 10-year period.

The car that hit Laura's bus had disregarded the flashing red lights and stop arm.

Williams said the first time she saw the video of the incident, it took her breath away.

“We’re hoping that it’s an education thing, that people just do not understand the rules of the road," Williams said Monday. "It's so serious. If you don't pay attention, you can end up killing someone's child."

Piloting the cameras

While Williams works to get the law passed, Red Clay School District is piloting some of the new cameras.

In December 2018, Red Clay outfitted two buses with stop-arm cameras and has begun ordering new buses with cameras attached to the stop arms to capture footage of violators.

Red Clay Transportation Manager Kelly Shahan believes the bill addresses a serious problem, as current state law requires a police officer to witness the violation or a bus driver to write down the license plate, go to the police station and report the incident.

"I’ll sleep better at night when Laura’s Law is enacted and drivers who pass a stopped school bus have a greater chance of being caught and properly fined,” she said in the announcement about the PSA.

“During our pilot program with cameras on the school buses, we have seen at least two drivers illegally pass the stopped bus on each run.”

HOW OFTEN: You would be surprised how often drivers don't stop for school buses

Shahan said Red Clay currently has 18 buses armed with the cameras.

The new law would not make external cameras mandatory but encourages other districts to follow Red Clay’s lead.

Fines collected from violators would be used to reimburse school districts for the cost of installing, operating and maintaining the cameras.

The law would require districts to display a sign on buses with cameras that a fine will be issued for passing while red lights are flashing and to release a PSA each year warning motorists that school buses in their home districts are using the cameras.

"If you hit someone's wallet, they sometimes seem to wake up and re-evaluate what they're doing wrong," said Williams, who said she can't really believe that it's taking this much effort to get people to obey such a common-sense law.

"It's unreal," she said. "Hopefully this bill will pass. I don’t see how it wouldn’t.”

There have been several fatal incidents involving stopped school buses across the country this school year.

In October, a woman in Indiana struck and killed three children after driving past their stopped school bus. They were crossing a highway to board the bright yellow vehicle, which had its stop arm fully extended and red lights flashing.

What we know about the Indiana bus stop crash, the children and the driver

By the numbers

Last spring, Delaware's public school bus drivers conducted a one-day survey of how many vehicles illegally passed their buses while they were loading and unloading students with their overhead red lights flashing and lighted STOP arms extended.

The results were striking. Keep in mind, all the following violations happened during the course of one day: May 4, 2018.

Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.