Rep. Josh Gottheimer was in Washington Wednesday with the family of a Paramus girl who died in a school bus crash to call on Congress to pass his new safety bill.
The bill is named Miranda’s Law after 10-year-old Miranda Vargas who died last year, along with a teacher, when her school bus overturned in a crash on Interstate 80. Dozens of other children were seriously injured.
Gottheimer praised the Vargas family for pushing for new school bus safety reform.
"They have taken that tragedy and come here together to make sure that it never happens to another family. So I want to thank you for your energy, your fearlessness and your willingness through pain to turn this into progress,” the congressman said.
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Miranda’s Law would ensure real-time background checks for school bus drivers. If a driver has anything on their record besides a parking ticket, the bus company would receive an alert within 24 hours.
"Right now, literally, you can have a background check on a Monday. Pass it on a Tuesday, get a DUI and the only requirement is self-reporting. The school district and the school bus company would never know about it,” says Gottheimer.
The driver operating the school bus Miranda was on had several safety violations on his record, according to officials. Investigators say that Hudy Muldrow attempted to make an illegal U-turn on I-80, which led to a dump truck striking the bus. Muldrow is facing vehicular homicide charges.
Gottheimer is also trying to pass the Secures Act, which requires three-point lap and shoulder seat belts on school buses nationwide. New Jersey has already implemented that law following the crash that killed Miranda.