NITRO, W.Va. — Local and national officials are urging drivers to slow down and stay alert for school buses in their communities.

National School Bus Safety Week begins Monday, Oct. 20, and runs through Saturday, Oct. 24. The West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program is teaming up with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for this effort.

While school buses are considered the safest mode of transportation, injuries and fatalities do still occur. According to the GHSP news release, from 2014 to 2023, 171 pedestrians were killed in school-bus-related traffic crashes.

“Seventy-nine school-age children—those 18 and younger—died while getting off a school bus. From 2000 to 2023, there were 61 fatalities involving drivers who illegally p

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