Rochester mom starts petition to makes bus stops safer
ROCHESTER, Ind. – A Rochester mom is hoping to turn tragedy into action.
Jessica Chambers started a petition demanding change for Indiana’s bus laws. She lives just a few miles away from where three innocent children lost their lives Tuesday morning crossing the road to get to their Tippecanoe Valley bus stop.
“When it first happened I got a phone call from my mother-in-law she heard that a child was hit and she was calling to make sure it wasn’t my child,” Chambers said.
The petition now has over 45,000 signatures and counting.
“The first night I started it I texted my husband and I said you know I’ll be happy if I get 10 signatures I’ll be happy,” Chambers said. “It’s almost overwhelming how many signatures we’ve gotten right now last I checked about an hour ago was 35,000.”
Chambers’s 7-year-old daughter crosses Old US31 every day on her way home from school.
“I think that the school system should reroute the buses so that they can pick up the kids in their driveways, pick up the kids on the curbside or at a bus stop that is not on the other side the road,” Chambers said. “The whole day was just breaking my heart you know that could’ve been my daughter.”
She wants to start change locally in Rochester and eventually hopes there’s change state-wide.
“If it adds 15 minutes or 20 minutes to the bus route that’s OK and I’m sure the parents are OK with that if it’s not risking their child’s life,“ Chambers said. “I don’t ever wanna hear anything like that happen again.”
Change is on the way. Following the school day Thursday, Chambers’s said she got word from the Rochester School Corporation that they would be recreating bus routes so kids won’t have to cross the roads.
She said it’s a small win for her and she will continue to push for more changes that will keep kids safe.
Link to petition: