CT Senate GOP Statement on “Startling” CT School Bus Crash Stats

Sen. Tony Hwang, the Ranking Senator on the state legislature’s Transportation Committee, Sen. Paul Cicarella, Ranking Senator on the Public Safety and Security Committee, and Sen. Jeff Gordon, who serves on the Public Safety and Security Committee today issued the following statement regarding hundreds of school bus crashes happening every year in Connecticut. (Related story here: https://www.courant.com/2024/11/25/hundreds-of-school-bus-crashes-happen-each-year-in-ct-its-happening-more-and-its-not-good/)

“The statistics are stunning. Even our Connecticut DOT describes them as ‘startling.’ A lot of it has to do with what we are seeing every day on Connecticut roads: reckless and distracted driving. To prevent future tragedies, we must look into further stiffening fines and penalties for improperly passing a standing school bus.”

The lawmakers said that their efforts at the State Capitol this year to address school bus safety was affirmed by this recent crash data and that more work must be done.

This year, lawmakers addressed school bus safety laws by passing legislation to reestablish and makes permanent a DMV school bus seat belt pilot program to provide 50% sales tax refunds for purchases of buses equipped with three-point seat belts (starting in October 2025).