Parents of 3 children killed in Fulton Co. bus crash help draft bus safety legislation

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- After the death of their three children back in October, a mother and father are turning their tragedy into action.

Brittany and Shane Ingle are pushing for stricter bus safety law and just three months after losing their children, they’ve successfully helped local lawmakers draft legislation that was introduced today.

The pleas for stricter bus safety laws are ringing through the halls at the Statehouse with legislation proposed both yesterday and today aimed to prevent school bus tragedies like the one in Fulton County that took Brittany and Shane’s three children.

Now, the names of those their children are inspiring the language of some of the legislation proposals.

“The M.A.X. strong act.  M.A.X. being the first initials of each of our children; Mason, Alivia, and Xzavier. Our kids are kind of like guardian angels to other children now. Like they’re helping prevent other families from going through this.”

Brittany and Shane said there are no words to describe the pain they’ve felt after the loss of their three children but they’re channeling that grief into something positive.

“If we can take our story about our kids and help people, help families, this helps us,” Shane said.

Tuesday State Representative Jim Pressel introduced legislation inspired by Brittany and Shane’s loss.

“It’s up to us to better protect our kids,” Pressel said. “We’ve had a major tragedy in the Rochester area and how long will it be before we have another tragedy?”

With the goal of preventing tragedies in mind , Pressel’s bill asks for three major things to make bus stops safer.

He wants to make it law that kids cannot be picked up or dropped off anywhere where they have to cross a state or county highway. He wants all school buses to have stop arm cameras and for law enforcement to monitor footage from those cameras and establish a penalty for drivers found in violation.

“We know that that’s not gonna solve the issue. We know that stop arm camera would not have prevented our situation, but it’s a step in the right direction for holding people accountable,” Brittany said.

“It’s not easy but it keeps us busy, it keeps the drive going, it keeps us moving,” Shane said.

Click here to read the full House Bill 1340.