GALLATIN COUNTY — Foggy mornings, 8:00 a.m. drop-offs, and Labor Day in the books. It’s officially back to school in Montana, and that makes road safety a top priority.

“It takes one bad incident for someone to change someone’s life,” said Morgan Tiberi, a bus driver with First Student in Bozeman. Her and two other bus drivers, Melissa Smith and Wendy Coey, say that school bus safety is a significant issue. All three drivers recalled their bus getting hit or being close to getting hit at some point in their careers. Montana Highway Patrol confirmed to MTN that this is a statewide problem.

“Between 2023 and 2024, I believe we issued 144 citations,” said Sgt. John Metcalfe.

With school starting back up, MTN asked the First Student bus drivers for a safety demonstration on what to do when

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