A child getting off a school bus on Bardstown Road came dangerously close to being struck by a passing car during peak afternoon traffic this week, and the Washington County Sheriff's Office is still trying to track down the driver responsible. The incident happened around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, as the bus had its signal lights on and stop-arm extended, according to police.
According to WDRB, an oncoming car drove past the stopped bus as the child was crossing the road, disregarding the bus's stop signals entirely. Police said the car came dangerously close to hitting the child. The Washington County Sheriff's Office released surveillance video captured from the bus itself and is now working to identify both the vehicle and its driver.
In a statement, the sheriff's office did not mince words, saying this reckless behavior is entirely unacceptable and puts innocent young lives at direct risk. Deputies urged drivers to slow down, pay attention, and look out for children, adding that a few seconds saved is not worth a child's life. The sheriff's office confirmed it is now monitoring school zones and bus routes more closely in the wake of the incident.
A Two-Lane Road Where Every Car Must Stop
The Washington County Sheriff's Office specified that the near-miss occurred on a two-lane stretch of Bardstown Road, where Kentucky law requires traffic in both directions to stop for a loading or unloading school bus. Bardstown Road, also known as US-150, runs through Washington County, a central Kentucky county with a population of roughly 12,400 residents, according to the sheriff's office citing U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
Kentucky law already required drivers to stop when a school or church bus has its signal lights on and stop-arm extended, but the rules got notably stricter this summer. As the Kentucky Department of Education explains, House Bill 7 took effect on July 15 and now requires motorists traveling in both directions to stop for a bus on any road, including four-lane highways, unless separated by an unpaved median or elevated physical barrier. The updated rules were put in place specifically to protect the roughly 400,000 Kentucky students who ride school buses daily.
Fines and Camera Enforcement Under the New Law
If deputies identify the driver, the penalties are steep. Illegally passing a stopped school bus can result in a $300 civil penalty for a first offense, and additional violations within three years can bring a $500 penalty, per the same statute. WHAS11 reported in July that the law also allows school districts to fund camera-enforced civil penalty programs entirely through violator fines, according to WHAS11.
House Bill 7 also explicitly authorized school districts to equip buses with exterior stop-arm cameras that record passing vehicles, along with the time, date, and stop-arm activation status, as reported by Glasgow News 1. Under KRS 189.370 and the law's administrative rules, if a vehicle owner fails to pay or contest a citation within 60 days, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is required to suspend that vehicle's registration, according to Glasgow News 1. Recorded images must be destroyed within 31 days unless a citation is issued or a case remains pending, the outlet noted.
A Warning Echoed Just Days Earlier in Georgetown
The Bardstown Road scare comes just six days after a far more severe incident in Georgetown, Kentucky, where a 39-year-old driver was arrested on August 20 after illegally passing a stopped Scott County school bus and striking a 10-year-old student crossing the road, according to WUKY. That child suffered a concussion and facial lacerations requiring stitches, and the driver was charged with assault, DUI, and passing a loading school bus, WUKY reported. Hoodline previously covered the aftermath in this Georgetown bus stop crash case.
The danger is not isolated to central Kentucky. A 2026 National Stop Arm Violation Survey from the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services found that 101,334 participating school bus drivers across 39 states recorded 56,024 illegal passings in a single day, a figure the group extrapolated to an estimated 38.4 million illegal passings nationwide over a 180-day school year, per Patch. State data self-reported to the Kentucky Department of Education showed 1,057 school bus incidents statewide during the 2023-2024 school year, with 538 occurring during afternoon bus runs like the one on Bardstown Road.
Larger districts are responding with technology. Jefferson County Public Schools announced a partnership on Friday with BusPatrol America to equip its entire bus fleet with AI-powered stop-arm cameras that automatically capture license plate numbers, video footage, and GPS data for police review, according to WDRB. Rural jurisdictions like Washington County, without fleet-wide automated systems, are instead relying on bus surveillance footage, community tips, and heightened traffic patrols to track down drivers before a close call turns into a tragedy.
