WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Low Country Mother Upset Over Bus Safety
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You probably put your kids on the bus all the time, and most trips are safe and uneventful. But one mother claims her son got hurt on the ride home.
Parents depend on bus drivers to get their children to and from school safely. But what happened to Nikki Gotcher's son, Stockton Law, on his bus ride home a couple of weeks ago has her doubting the safety on those buses.
"I'm scared for my child, I'm scared for someone else's child," said Gotcher.
She says it all started when a bus broke down, and First Student had to squeeze two busloads of children onto one bus. Stockton says it was a terrible ride.
"There was nowhere to sit down and it wasn't safe," he said. "Kids were standing up and when she slammed on her brakes, kids were screaming."
"She'd yelled at the kids prior and when they didn't hush she took it upon herself to slam on the brakes," said Gotcher.
That bus ride home took more than an hour longer that it's supposed to. Gotcher says it wasn't long till Stockton began to feel the effects.
"An hour later, he started complaining of a headache...severe neck pain and soreness in both side of his neck," she told us. "I called his pediatrician and that's when he said he had a small case of whiplash."
Gotcher says it caused her son to miss a day of school. While officials with First Student say they haven't seen any medical records showing Stockton had whiplash, they have looked into the incident.
While officials didn't want to go on camera, they do say the bus driver was unfamiliar with the route, and did make some quick stops because, according to the bus driver, the children weren't giving her much notice before their stops.
First Student did say the bus jerked another time when the bus driver was looking in the rear view mirror and swerved off the road and then back on.
While Stockton is feeling better, he and his mom are worried about the safety on the bus, and they're hoping their speaking out will help it not happen again.
"If I can prevent it from happening to another child, I'll prevent it," said Gotcher. "I will do whatever I can."
First Students say their bus driver followed proper procedures and was not at fault for what happened on the bus.
Reported by: Jaime Dailey, jdailey@wtoc.com
