John Washington III Asks Whether School Bus Enforcement Protects Children or Traps Drivers for Revenue
In a statement headed 'School Bus Safety or Government Entrapment?', John Washington III raised allegations that inactive school buses are being used to generate traffic citations, said protecting children and manufacturing tickets are two different things, and promised federal investigations, where legally authorized, under his administration.
John Washington III put a question about school bus enforcement at the center of a new public statement on Monday, asking whether the laws written to protect children are being used in places to raise money instead. 'School bus laws were created to protect our children, NOT to create another revenue stream for city and state governments,' he wrote, in a statement headed 'School Bus Safety or Government Entrapment? The People Deserve Answers!'
The concern, as John Washington III framed it, is specific: reports and allegations involving old, inactive school buses - buses, he wrote, that are allegedly no longer being used to transport children - being operated in ways that result in traffic citations when their stop signs are activated. 'If city governments and police departments are deliberately approving these tactics simply to collect more money from hardworking Americans, THAT IS A SERIOUS ABUSE OF GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY,' he wrote. He was equally direct about the other side of the line: 'I fully support protecting our children. Any driver who illegally passes a school bus and endangers children should be held accountable.' The difference, he wrote, 'is between protecting children and deliberately setting people up to receive traffic tickets.'
John Washington III said the allegations would not be ignored under his administration. 'As President of the United States, I will push for federal investigations, where legally authorized, into cities, states, and law enforcement agencies accused of deliberately manufacturing traffic violations for financial gain,' he wrote, adding that accountability would be pursued 'through every lawful avenue available, including federal civil rights enforcement where violations of federal law are established.' If an inactive bus is being used primarily to generate citations rather than protect children, he wrote, the public deserves to know who authorized it, why it was authorized, and whether those citations were lawful. The statement as posted ends as he begins a call for stronger safeguards; nothing beyond the posted text is reported here.
