Mom Hopes To Get Exterior Cameras Installed On Norman School Buses

School districts across the country are releasing startling video of children hit by cars that fail to stop for school buses. It's a danger a Norman boy knows after he was run over by a driver last year when crossing the street.

It was 12-year-old Houston Ridings last stop before the Halloween weekend last year. He was just feet away from his door when a driver, not seeing the stopped bus, plowed over him.

“It just happened so fast. I mean there was really nothing he could have done,” said Kalee Ridings.

A neighbor who saw the accident ran to his house to tell his mother. Before that day, Ridings’ biggest fear was what could happen to her son while riding the bus.

“He was in the middle of the street, blood all over his face and his eyes were rolled back in his head, so I thought he was gone,” said Ridings. 

The accident left tire marks on Houston's legs. His pelvis was shattered and he had a brain bleed. Houston was in the hospital for two weeks, though he's still recovering from the accident.

“I don't think drivers are going to stop ignoring it unless there's going to be a consequence,” she said.

By one estimate, American drivers illegally passed school buses more than 13 million times last year. About eight kids a year are killed by drivers who ignore school bus stop signs,

It's why many school districts across the state have installed cameras on school buses to catch violators and fine them.

In Norman police periodically will ride on buses to bust offenders. Still, Houston's mother wants more to be done.

“It's just not worth a child's life. You can wait,” said Ridings.

Ridings is now working with the state's transportation department in hopes of installing external cameras on all school buses in Oklahoma.