Palmerston North mother calls for school bus law reform after her daughter's ordeal

Tuesday, 30 January 2018

Hannah Lupton talks about the serious accident her 16-year-old daughter, Ruby Lupton, had after getting off the school bus near Masterton.

A Palmerston North mother is calling for reform of laws about driving near school buses, after her 16-year-old daughter was almost killed coming home from school.

The law says cars going past a school bus, in either direction, have to slow to 20kmh when it is stopped to drop off or pick up children. The car that hit Ruby Lupton, as she came home last May, was still doing about 70kmh when she bounced off its hood.

Her mother Hannah Lupton was shocked to find that, technically, the 20kmh limit didn't apply because Ruby's school bus had started moving. She wants the rule extended so it applies until the bus has moved away.

It's been eight months of constant worry and pain for Ruby Lupton, 16, and her mother Hannah Lupton, since Ruby was hit by a car on her way home after leaving the school bus.

She said her daughter almost died and something needed to change to prevent other children getting injured or killed.

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'It can happen anywhere, on any road.

'I don't want to be another person who just sits there and accepts it. I don't want Ruby to be just another statistic.'

A 2010 NZ Transport Agency report says 22 children were killed, 45 seriously injured and 91 suffered minor injuries crossing the road to or from a school bus between 1987 and 2007.

Flashing lights have been trialled on Ashburton buses.

Transport agency spokesman Andy Knackstedt said the Government was reviewing the trial results.

Uzabus Manawatū-Horowhenua manager Graham McKay said there needed to be better enforcement.

'Around 80 per cent of drivers [ignore the current rules], probably even more than that.'

Lupton said if the motorist who crashed into her daughter had only been doing 20kmh, Ruby wouldn't have been so badly hurt.

The impact left Ruby with a metal rod in her right leg, a pin in her left elbow, a ruptured spleen and a serious head injury.

For Ruby, it meant three weeks of rehabilitation, four operations, and eight months of constant pain.

The long recovery had been financially and emotionally crippling, Lupton said.

Lupton had to quit her job to look after her daughter.

She'd burned through all her savings and set up a Givealittle page for Ruby in desperation, she said.

But, Lupton said, the worst of it was the problems money couldn't fix.

'Ruby screams in pain at night. Sometimes, she's in so much pain and gets so frustrated, she just yells and swears at me – and it's all hard for a mum to bear.'

They were both strong and determined enough to make it through, Lupton said.

Road safety group Brake New Zealand director Caroline Perry said it was appalling so many motorists either didn't know or ignored the rule, and the charity recently launched an education campaign.

'The speed limit around school buses is there to protect children. They sometimes make mistakes, but don't deserve to pay for it with their life.'

A flashing speed-limit sign on school buses could make it easier for drivers to know when the law applied, she said.

Perry said this could save lives.

The World Health Organisation found that a child hit by a car travelling less than 30kmh had a higher than 90 per cent chance of living. But, if the car is going 50kmh, that falls to 20 per cent.