FRIGHTENING VIDEO: Lakewood child walking off school bus nearly struck by passing vehicle

A Lakewood child was just one step away from being mowed down by a vehicle passing her school bus.

Surveillance video shows a school bus pulling up to the girl’s County Line Road home, and as she’s on the last step of the bus, a car is seen driving onto the shoulder, narrowly missing the girl. The car kept driving.

“It took her about a half hour to calm down,” the father of the girl told TLS.

The father said he will be making a police report about the incident.

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56 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t want to condone the driver of the car but why in the world is the bus dropping the kids off in the 2nd (left) lane?! I had a few near misses this summer with drivers failing to turn on their lights (not even yellows!) before letting kids off! We’re dealing with the lives of our children at stake!

    • @Leah Cohen

      If you watch the video you will see the bus had it’s red lights flashing, came to a complete stop and then opened the door for the student to debark. County Line Road is only one lane in each direction with a large shoulder. The bus might drop off students that need to cross the street to get home. It would be improper to pull over onto the shoulder as this would increase the chances that on-coming traffic would not notice the bus with the flashing lights and fail to stop. People need to be in less of a rush and drive less distracted.

    • It’s probably a wide shoulder, as another comment said, however a good idea – that has been done in Brooklyn for years – is for the bus to veer to the right, physically blocking the shoulder (or an oncoming lane, depending if teh child has to cross). Therefore, a car wouldn’t’ even try to pass. I’ve seen this being done here in town also, to a degree.

  2. I see this all the time, I don’t mean to be a racist by majority of times the drivers are women! please warn your wifes and daughters about this huge sakana! and crime

    • The danger is quite clear in the video. Perhaps it will serve to save another child with this horrible close call for parents to discuss. It is a crime for people to drive recklessly, and some without licenses. How do drivers like this pass the driving test to begin with? (Racism is not relative to gender. It is relevant to beliefs/ethnic origin.)

  3. I see this all over town. Busses need to learn to go on an angle closer to sidewalk to drop off kids. Even when they drop off kids on a 2way street they need to go a little in the other direction when crossing a 2 way or wait until all cars stop before opening a door. Busses also should not open doors before cars stop.

  4. This just happened to my son last night on William St. As my son was about to get off the bus a car went flying around the bus. Luckily the bus driver yelled to my son to stop.

  5. It not an excuse whatsoever and that driver should be prosecuted. However I am pretty sure county line road is one of those roads buses are not supposed to stop and let children off on…
    Bushes contin use ignore this policy

  6. WOW ..ITS NOT THE FIRST TIME…, ON 10/31/18 ,MY SISTER WAS AT THE BUS STOP ON KENNEDY BLVD.FRONT OTHT APTS.,WENT SHE WENT 2 HELP THE KIDS GETTING OUT OF THE SCHOOL BUS.. A CAR WAS PASSING ON THE SHOULDER THANK GOD MY SISTER SAW HER B4 WAS 2 LALTE, SHE WAS HALF WAY BY THE BUS ALREADY…MY SISTER TOOK HER A PIC OF ER CAR,.

  7. Unbelievable!!! Everyone is in a rush to nowhere. And not for nothing the bus driver should have been paying attention as well and shouldn’t have let the child run down the stairs if he/she saw the car coming in the mirror!

  8. @moe, stops on county line ARE legal, especially if you live far from any corner!!! Regardless, red flashing lights from a bus stop means STOP!!! Whether at a corner or middle of block!!

  9. Who will pay for unmarked cars. There are enough bus/money issues. Also, flashing lights mean stop. How is the bus driver at fault? Seriously people get a CDL and drive your own, see how easy it is. The finger is always pointed at everyone but the community. (Not saying this is the community fault.) But Im sure I will called antisemetic. Lets just call a spade a spade. The driver and the driver of that car alone is at fault. Unless we also want to blame the kids for being to anxious to get off the bus. Drive a bus.then point fingers. Im sure your fellow yid bus drivers would agree.Religious people should be considerate to all not just their own. Find the lie!

  10. first of all, why was the bus in 2nd lane? Action should be taken. Were the red bus lights on? if yes, then take away the driver’s car, sell it at auction and remove his license for a year. Also let his entire neighborhood know what he did.
    All around disaster here. People need to be forced to behave on the road.

  11. NOTHING TO SEE HERE.
    It was not the fault of the evil careless bus driver. It is fine. Happens tell times a day but the police need to crack down only in but drivers.
    It is YOUR kids that we carry and that YOU imperil with your driving.

  12. Once we’re at it, I think that we should point out that these kids are lucky to b dropped off at home. What about the danger of kids being dropped off 2-3 blocks from their homes. I know a few parents who reached out to LSTA about their kids stops and LSTA said they couldn’t add stops. So now it’s safe to have primary and 1,2.. graders walk 3 blocks alone in the dark…

  13. What crazy person passes a school bus on the right side (or left) when the bus is stopped. That driver needs his license taken away. I hope they find him. What an idiot. Thank G-D that little girl is safe. Don’t need any more sad news around here.

  14. Bus driver nomor, sorry, I will call you as out of line, because how in the world can you tell the ethnicity of the driver from this video?!? Your jumping to conclusions shows where your beliefs lie.

  15. The Bus did nothing wrong! That car drove on the shoulder to pass a stopped school bus with its lights on, there is only 1 lane on that part of County Line Rd. The car was 1000% Wrong!

  16. Sickening. I really hope there is a second camera that allows the police to see the driver’s plates.

    I am all for unmarked cars following buses. You worry about who will pay for it? A couple tickets will easily cover the cost. But I also think that a cheap dash cam could be installed (cost paid by the many tickets that will be written).

  17. This happens all day long in Lakewood and other towns. Everyone needs not to be in a hurry. Parents and bus drivers need to be alert and vigilant to ensure the safety of all children. Parents need to be at bus stops (yes even a few blocks away) and children need to be taught to look also when exiting the bus. Everyone needs to slow down and watch.

  18. Mark i had a very similar incident to this a person kept tailing my bus then when the driver came to a stop on new central ave the bus driver EVEN TURNED THE BUS ON A ANGLE the front towards towards oncoming traffic with the back also on a slant towards the shoulder and as a freind of mine was getting off the bus he manged to get into the shoulder and went by at extreme speed while this person was nearly off the bus p.s. the driver then trailed the driver i then ran off the bus by sunset x james to get the plates but had a very hard time since they appeared extremly dirty (probely intentionally like that) and he got away this happens all the time. its time for the lpd to put a stop to this

  19. I’m still convinced the way the buses did it when we were kids worked way better, the bus would simply cross the double lines and latterly block oncoming traffic to let kids off!!! There were also doors on either side of the bus which would help in that situation as well! There’s no blowing a stop sign when the entire bus is blocking you.

  20. There should be a law that busses should let all cars pass, it is safer for the kids and getting stuck behind a bus that keeps letting off kids is crazy, the traffic is bad enough with out all the busses on the road!

  21. First and for most the child’s life is what matters. The van that carelessly almost killed a child, probably uses this road everyday, so sit and wait. Also file a report, let the police do their job. As a bus driver I don’t care if crossing the line is illegal, if it saves a life. The van drove on the shoulder to pass, how do you know he/she wasn’t actually trying to hit the child on purpose?

    • Maybe the Ocean County Health Dept. came to his house to persuade him to get the vaccine and he was extremely upset about this uninvited guest , so he decided to get into his car and he just took off.

  22. As a side point looking closer at the videos the girls didn’t even check if it is safe to cross, parents must drill into there children not to rely on the bus lights and the driver being alert if kids would actually stop and check before they run out of a buss blindfolded relying on people being responsible (which sadly not all people are) I think it would be much safer. Parents please wake up, if everyone who saw and heard this video will teach there kids never to go off the bus without looking both ways carefully we can use this as a additional step to prevent tragedy ch”v.

  23. We saw a woman try to drive around a school bus when it came to a complete stop at the train tracks for two seconds. I honked at her and made her stop. Stop signs are not a suggestion! It means stop. And traffic laws are in place for a reason. You are not an exception or above the law just because you feel like its an inconvenience to fully stop. How would you feel if someone did that to your child?

  24. First of all, driving on the shoulder is ILLEGAL, second, passing on the right is ILLEGAL!
    AND tell me again that the state police don’t need to be here?!

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