New Gottheimer ad touts bus safety bill

Rep. Josh Gottheimer is out on the airwaves with a new ad touting the passage of a bipartisan bus safety law the congressman sponsored and helped push through the legislature following a school bus crash that left a middle school student and teacher dead after a bus driver attempted to make an illegal U-turn.

The ad features testimony from an emotional Joevanny Vargas, father of Miranda Vargas, the 10-year-old girl who was killed in the Paramus crash. Since the accident, Vargas has frequently lobbied for stricter bus safety regulations.

“This was a tragedy that could have been prevented,” Gottheimer says in the ad. “I wrote Miranda’s Law to ensure that school districts are notified if a bus driver has a bad record, and I call for lap and shoulder seat belts on every school bus, just like we have in our cars.”

The bill, which is awaiting a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, would create a real-time national notification system for violations by bus drivers. Currently, such violations are reported annually.

The driver in the Paramus incident had his license suspended 14 times.

Teacher Jennifer M. Williamson, 51, was also killed in the highly-publicized crash. The driver was charged with two counts of reckless vehicular homicide.

Gottheimer had previously introduced legislation that would require three-point seat belts in school buses. That bill is awaiting a hearing before the same subcommittee. The congressman also appeared with Joevanny Vargas, State Sen. Joe Lagana and Assembly members Lisa Swain and Chris Tully to announce a state version of the reporting law.

State lawmakers passed a law earlier this year requiring school buses have three-point seat belts.