STATESVILLE, North Carolina – Video footage from inside a school bus shows two young children narrowly escaping being hit by an SUV after the driver failed to stop.
The heart-stopping video shared by a school district in North Carolina illustrates the importance of stopping for school buses.
The footage, released by Iredell-Statesville Schools, shows a bus stopping around 6:15 a.m. as two children wait on the side of the road. As the kids start to cross, an SUV goes around the bus and passes it on the left without slowing down. The video, which you can watch in the player at the top of this article, shows the vehicle coming within inches of the child as the school bus driver screams and honks the bus’s horn.
It’s illegal in all states to pass a stopped school bus that is actively loading or unloading passengers. In Texas, the penalty can be as much as $1,250.
The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office said the driver of the SUV in the video was located following a public appeal for information.
“Clearly, this call could have been beyond tragic, and thankfully we are praising this child’s quick thinking instead of what the alternative could have been,” the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.