Bus Law Meant to Protect Kids Has Major Loophole

Richmond — 

State code can sometimes be written in such a convoluted manner, it's hard to know what exactly a law means.

But one thing is for sure about Virginia's 40-year-old bus safety statute that makes it illegal to pass a school bus while it's picking up or dropping off children: it's missing a word. 

A very costly word.

A man in Northern Virginia was recently acquitted of a reckless driving charge because his attorney argued there's no evidence the man "failed to stop any school bus."

The wording in the Virginia state law should read, "a person is guilty of reckless driving who fails to stop....AT any school bus which is stopped on any highway, private road or school driveway."

But the state law omits the word "at," making it illegal to 'fail to stop a school bus."

State Delegate Joe Morrissey, D-74th, reviewed the Virginia code and sided with the judge for finding the man 'not guilty' of reckless driving.

"Quite frankly, the legislature in 1970 screwed up," said Morrissey. "They should have caught it, and my feeling is that people, citizens should be the beneficiaries if we screw up in a particular word."

Morrissey said another version of the law has already been drafted, and the corrected bill will gain passage in the 2011 General Assembly session in a couple of months.

The former prosecutor said it's hard to cast blame in a situation like this, which involves a complicated political process.

"Everybody's at fault," said Morrissey, "everybody voted on it, and it's not unusual when we're voting on a bill."

He added that the legislation goes through many different changes/evolutions between committees and both chambers, and sometimes typing mistakes just slip through the cracks.

Richmond parents concerned about the safety of their children did not agree with the judge's decision in this case, nor did they find the shrewd lawyer's discovery of the missing "at" very amusing.

"No, no," said Diana Nebille, shaking her head. "A simple typo. When you're talking the safety of our children, no. That's the wrong decision."

Another mom, Rebecca Wolf, worried about what the verdict would mean for future drivers who break the law.

"[The judge] should have been a little less shallow and realized what he was really doing by letting this person go," said Wolf. "It's setting a precedent for anyone else to get off that way too."




Read