Mother's Plea: Faster Action on School Bus Safety

0:00On March 5th, one year after her 11-year-old daughter, Caitlin Rose McMullan, was spatily struck by a car while stepping off a school bus in. Castle Dawson, County London Dairy, Mother Stella McGinn, is urging faster action on safety laws. The tragedy happened in March 2025, highlighting gaps in Northern Ireland's rules, where drivers aren't legally required to stop when. School buses load or unload kids. Infrastructure Mr. Liz Kimmins has promised legislation to ban overtaking at school bus stops, with more details coming in the weeks ahead. Calls for these changes have lingered for over 20 years, but they've grown louder since Caitlin Rose's death, drawing from examples in parts of the United States and Canada that use stop signs and lights on buses. Stella describes the ongoing pain of daily life near the crash site, where tributes remain, and worries other families will suffer without quick reforms. Dr. Damian Gates, who treated Caitlin Rose at the Royal Belfast Hospital for sick children,

1:02called it a hard-breakingly common scenario, as medical. Staff see these cases too often. Recent data paints a grim picture, since 2020, police report nearly 700 young people aged 4 to 18, killed on Northern. Ireland rose during school terms. The children's hospital notes about one intensive care admission yearly from bus-related strikes over 15 years, plus two severe cases in the last, six months alone. School transport operators like the Education Authority and TransLink have added bus lights, signage, videos, and social media campaigns, but stress. They lack power to change laws. Stella hopes her daughter's memory drives row protection for every child heading to and from school.