Wilson Vetoes Bill to Ease Law on Stopping for School Buses

Gov. Pete Wilson has rejected efforts to roll back a 9-month-old law that is meant to keep children safe at school bus stops but has drawn protests from inconvenienced motorists up and down the state.

Wilson’s office said Monday that the governor vetoed a bill that would soften parts of the new law, which requires that school buses use flashing red lights and bring traffic to a halt at every stop as a safety precaution.

“The law has been in place for less than one year, which is hardly enough time to determine if exemptions are needed,” Wilson said in his written veto message.

The veto drew applause from the father of a Laguna Niguel boy whose death helped spark the new school bus safety law.

“I’m very pleased,” said Tom Lanni, whose son, Tommy, was struck and killed by a pickup after he got off a school bus in 1994. “It would have eliminated more than half the stops with no rationale. That’s like saying we’re going to give kids a loaded gun to play with, but try to make it safer by leaving out half the bullets.”

The author of the legislation that Wilson vetoed, though, said her measure was intended to prevent traffic problems and accidents.

Assemblywoman Virginia Strom-Martin (D-Duncans Mills) said her measure would have “preserved the intended safety measures of the 1997 legislation while allowing common sense exemptions that made the roads safer for both children and motorists.”

Strom-Martin noted that she and other state legislators were inundated with complaints after the Lanni law went into effect.

Motorists complained that they were forced to slam on the brakes after coming upon a stopped bus with flashing lights. Some drivers reported getting rear-ended. Others were angry because they were given hefty traffic tickets for going around stopped school buses.