Parents 'Stand In Road' To Protect Kids At Bus Stop: Report

RACINE COUNTY, WI -- A group of parents in a suburban part of Racine County say they are taking extreme measures to protect their children each morning at their bus stop, including standing in the road to head off dangerous drivers.

One parent contacted us, feeling there was nothing they could do to make their bus stop safer.

"I am mortified as a parent that people are out there that drive through bus lights so unconsciously and without care," parent Missy Kwiatkowski told Patch. "What else is a parent to do."

Each morning, parents in the Kwiatkowski's neighborhood prepare five elementary and middle-school-aged children for school at Gifford School. They then head to the bus stop near the intersection of Debby Lane and Dunkelow Road in Franskville. The speed limit on that stretch of Dunkelow Road is only 30 miles per hour, but Kwiatkowski says morning traffic presents some unusual hazards.

She told Patch that because of traffic near Highway H, and people using Dunkelow Road as their path to work, drivers often exceed the speed limit, and ignore the bus stop when children are boarding for school.

Kwiatkowski says parents will stand in the traffic lane closest to the bus stop to prevent cars from speeding past their children who are only several feet away. It's a situation that gravely concerns parents there.

"Any time I see a vehicle approaching the bus stop as the bus is arriving, I or one of the other adults will stand practically in the road to hopefully draw attention and make sure the vehicles stop," T.J. Kwiatkowski told Patch.

After one of the bus stop parents recorded the license plate number of a regularly-offending vehicle, the Kwiatkowski family told Patch that they reached out to the Caledonia Police Department to seek redress for their grievance. They didn't get anywhere, she said.

"We called the police, since this is getting to be a daily issue. They said that they cannot do anything with the plate number we gave them because it would be their word against ours," she said. "But if the bus company calls police, it is different."

Patch has reached out to the Caledonia Police Department regarding bus stop safety. An email to the department's public information officer has not been returned after a number of days.

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