PARENT: ROAD A ‘HOT SPOT’ FOR IGNORING BUSES

City, school board asked to take steps to correct the problem.

Speeding drivers MIAMISBURG — ignoring school buses is an ongoing problem near Miamisburg High School, a parent who lives there says.

The issue is being monitored better in recent weeks, Joanna Bentley said, but she is asking the city and the school district to take long-term measures to address what she called a “widespread problem.”

Bentley said she lives on Belvo Road across from the high school and vehicles too often speed and don’t stop for buses picking up students, including her kindergartner and middle school student.

“Cars are constantly speeding in the school zone,” Bentley said. “I was told (by police) that our street is a hot spot for speeders.”

About 30 school-age children are killed in the U.S. each year in school-transportation-related crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Most of those crashes take place outside of the bus or in other vehicles, the NHTSA found.

During a 10-year span ending in 2015, 34 percent of those fatalities involved pedestrians and 18 percent were occupants of school transportation vehicles, according to the NHTSA.

Bentley said one Miamisburg driver was issued a violation in late November after police stepped up patrols in the area at her request.

“The person admitted that they didn’t see the bus,” she told Miamisburg City Council last week. “The problem is not just the bus stop we use. Having talked with the bus driver, this is a widespread problem.”

The next day, she said, a bus driver told her two cars drove past a stopped bus.

“And all it takes is one child to dart out into the street,” Bentley said. “And not every bus stop has a