Daughter’s death

For six years, I have been fighting to protect our students and prevent others from being run over by careless motorists, as my daughter was in 2010.

Every day since Gabby’s death, I have fought to get stricter penalties to improve safety for students. I thought it all would happen this year when House Bill 373 was filed in the Florida Legislature.

The bill would have increased the penalties for passing a stopped school bus and authorized school districts to use cameras to catch offending motorists. But, the bill will not be heard.

After sitting stagnant in the Highway & Waterway Safety subcommittee for 12 days, I spoke with the committee chair, Rep. Greg Stuebe. He informed me that chairperson Rep. Jose Oliva (R-Miami) will not allow the bill to be heard.

Rep. Oliva won’t answer calls or respond to my emails. He just has it in his head that our children aren’t worthy of being safe.

Even though a Department of Education survey showed 2.9 million motorists illegally pass stopped school buses a year, Oliva thinks our 1.4 million students who ride those buses don’t deserve protection.

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Daughter’s death."