She was killed when a driver failed to stop for a school bus. A deputy is working to make sure it doesn't happen again. - East Idaho News
Local

She was killed when a driver failed to stop for a school bus. A deputy is working to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

  Published at  | Updated at
Makayla Strahle | Courtesy photo

BONNEVILLE COUNTY — Responding to a wreck like the Friday involving a school bus and a truck may seem like the normal duties of any deputy or police officer. But, for Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputy Daniel Sperry, bus crashes have taken on a different meaning.

“Unfortunately, in 2011 my daughter got off a school bus and was struck and killed by a person who failed to stop for a school bus,” Sperry says.

His stepdaughter, Makayla Strahle, would have graduated from Idaho Falls High School this last year. She was just 11-years-old when she died.

“It had a huge impact on my entire family. My kids lost a sibling, we lost a child, grandparents lost a granddaughter,” Sperry says. “The community has really lost an addition to it simply because somebody didn’t stop for a school bus.”

Sperry is now a bus safety trainer and he teaches bus drivers and workers with other organizations around the world how to stay safe. It’s his way of keeping his daughters memory alive.

“I started off sharing Makayla’s story and it’s transitioned into some school bus safety issues (training),” Sperry says.

Sperry works at Bonneville High School as a resource officer. Along with the Bonneville Joint School District 93 Transportation Office, he’s vigilant as he tracks the analytics of stop arm violations. A stop arm violation is when a vehicle illegally passes a school bus when its attached stop sign is out and visible to drivers.

SchoolBusD93

He says there about 20 violations a month in District 93 alone. Micheal Graham, the transportation director, says it could be even a few more within the district. He counted about eight violations per week in the month of September.

“When a car does not stop, they’re jeopardizing the health and safety of possibly several kids in our community,” Sperry says.

Graham says they track violations through exterior cameras on each bus. Interior cameras monitor what’s happening inside the bus.

“Stop arm violations are a big problem so we’re able to capture exactly what the bus driver was doing as far as being safe and having the alarms and lights on,” Graham says.

Graham trains bus drivers to stay as safe as possible on their end. When a wreck happens, the cameras are reviewed and the bus driver is interviewed to make sure they were doing all they could to protect the children onboard.

BusWarningSticker
A warning sticker on the side of a D93 school bus. | Natalia Hepworth, EastIdahoNews.com

Graham and Sperry say they do all they can to ensure safety on and off the school buses. Whether it’s an active shooter situation, a wreck, or a bus driver passing out at the wheel, they do their best to be prepared.

They urge drivers to take extreme caution around moving or stopped buses. Graham says once amber lights are flashing, be prepared to stop.

“Once the bus comes to a complete stop and then the door is open, that’s when the stop arm comes out. At that particular point, they (drivers) should be either 25 feet in front of the bus or 25 feet behind — depending on which way of traffic that they’re going,” Graham says.

Sperry says to remember that children are all around school buses, and buses have to make mandatory stops at railroad crossings to make sure it’s clear before proceeding. He also says to note that buses have to pick up kids in odd places, so exercise patience while driving.

“If you see a yellow bus, know that there’s a high probability that there’s a child close by,” Sperry says. “It’s good to pay extra attention to the buses because we can’t afford to lose any kids in our community.”

SUBMIT A CORRECTION