In the Name of His Son

Thomas Lanni picked up the telephone one afternoon in 1994 to experience every parent’s nightmare: His 7-year-old son, Tommy, had stepped off a school bus and been hit by a truck.

Tommy died before the night was out. The tragedy inspired a three-year crusade. And earlier this month, Lanni’s efforts were rewarded by Gov. Pete Wilson’s signing of the Thomas Edward Lanni School Bus Safety Act of 1997.

Beginning Jan. 1, California school bus drivers will be required to flash red warning lights at every stop, bringing passing traffic to a halt while children exit the bus. It’s a precaution Lanni believes would have saved his son’s life and will save countless others.

“I feel relieved,” said the father who made nine trips to Sacramento to lobby for passage of the bill. “I feel good that we will prevent other kids from being killed. I have some consolation in the fact that Tommy’s death mattered--that it’s not just some number on a wall that didn’t mean anything to anybody.”

This outcome wasn’t always so clear.

The Lannis had moved to Orange County from New York one week before their son’s death. And the tragedy took place the first time the youngster had taken the bus home from his new school.

A series of mistakes led to the accident. First, the boy disembarked one stop too soon. Then, disoriented, he went the wrong way and crossed the street in front of the school bus. He was struck by a passing truck driver, whose visibility was obscured by the bus.

Existing state law requires drivers to turn on the bus’ flashing red lights--which signals traffic to halt--only when they know that children leaving the bus need to cross the street. But the driver that day never turned on the flashing lights because he didn’t realize the youngster was crossing.

Back on that April day, Lanni was angered to learn that the lack of a flashing red light had not violated California law.

“It was the single worst moment of my life,” Lanni said of learning that his son had died. “I was dumbfounded when they told me that the lights weren’t required.”

He and his wife, Barbara, filed a lawsuit accusing the Capistrano Unified School District of negligence in the death of their son. It dragged on for more than a year. In the end, though, they not only lost the initial judgment but were ordered to pay the school district $20,000 in attorney’s fees.

They had also pushed for a school bus safety bill sponsored by then-state Sen. Marian Bergeson. By the time the bill was voted into law in 1994, however, it had been so watered down that the Lannis withdrew their support.

That’s when they met Assemblyman Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside). Lanni made an appointment to speak with him and soon found an ally.

“He brought it to our attention, we acted on it and introduced it on his behalf,” Mark Stewart, Morrow’s legislative aide, said of AB 1297. “Mr. Lanni was instrumental in the creation and enactment of the bill. Without him, we might not have introduced it--he was the driving force behind the bill.”

In addition to requiring school bus drivers to flash red warning lights at every stop, the new law will require school districts to enact safety plans assuring, among other things, that students riding buses are not left at the wrong stops.

“There’s no doubt that it will save lives,” Stewart said. “Cars are required to stop when they see those lights. It will prevent traffic accidents and help prevent tragedies like the Lannis have suffered from ever happening again.”

Lanni said he is happy that the bill has prevailed. But the victory is bittersweet, he said, and tempered by loss. The couple and their daughter, now 8, say they have a gap in their family that will never be filled.

“There’s no way you can ever make that better,” Lanni said.

“People like to think that you get over these things,” he said, “but you never do. His birthday comes every year. So does Christmas, so does Easter and there’s a big gaping hole. It’s painful. You just learn to live with the pain because it never goes away.”