'You never think they’d go out to school one morning and not come back' - Grieving mother reinforces bus safety plea
The return of children to schools across Northern Ireland this week has prompted a renewed vow over bus safety from grieving mother Stella McGinn whose 11-year-old daughter was killed in a traffic collision in March.
Caitlin-Rose McMullan, who was a Year 8 pupil at Saint Pius X school in Magherafelt, died when she was involved in collision after disembarking from a school bus on the Hillhead Road in Castledawson shortly after 4pm on Wednesday, March 5.
This devastated her family and shook the entire community.
Earlier this year Stella was among a number of parents who went to Stormont to call for better safety measures on school buses.
However, she does not believe any new law will be passed until next year.
When asked how she managed to put all her grief into energy for a campaign to try to ensure no other teenager dies like her daughter did, Stella said: “Are you going to let it happen to another family and lie burying your head in the sand or do something about it?
“I still have a wee boy who has to get to and from school – Shea.
“How many newspapers have we all seen with a young child in the front after a road death and we say isn’t that awful and then walk on.
“Nothing has been done about it yet, but I am trying to change the legislation.
“We only have to June next year for new legislation to be passed or a new voting system starts again.
”So I am hoping by speaking out at the start of a new school year the momentum will be kept up and the legislation will move further forward.”
Earlier this year Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins announced her intention for a law to prohibit the overtaking of school buses which have stopped to drop off or pick up passengers.
Bereaved families attended Stormont to back an Opposition motion calling for stronger safeguarding measures at school bus stops, including requiring vehicles to stop for school buses and around road layouts.
Speaking at the time Stella said Caitlin-Rose was “blindsided” when she walked out between two buses and “couldn't see traffic coming”.
Currently in Northern Ireland there is no legal requirement for other vehicles to stop when a school bus is picking up or dropping off pupils.
In some parts of the United States and Canada, it is a motoring offence to overtake a school bus when it has stopped.
Meanwhile the return to school has proved a very poignant time for Stella.
“It is terrible seeing all the back to school pictures from parents on social media and then all my memories coming up again on the phone,” she said.
“I remember so clearly taking the pictures of Caitlin-Rose on her first day (at big school) and her telling me I was too close, to get the angle right and put the phone up higher.
“It brought back all those memories. You never think they’d go out to school one morning and not come back.
“Now she would be going into Year 9 and would be all drama-rama as usual.
“She was starting to find her feet and become the person she wanted to be, finding her own unique style and personality.
“But I am now trying to keep busy to get through all of his.”