The mother of an eleven-year-old girl who was tragically killed earlier this month after being hit by a car as she exited a school bus is calling for new legislation to be introduced to increase the safety measures around busses on our roads.
Stella McMullan, whose daughter Caitlin Rose was killed as she made her way home from school on Hillhead Road in Castledawson.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Stella said that after receiving a letter from First Minister Michelle O’Neill early last week, she felt that she had to launch a campaign for new safety measures, including bus shelters, better bus codes similar to those found in countries where cars must stop by law to let children cross, and a significant increase in speed awareness around stopped buses, before another child is killed.
“Caitlin Rose was the life and soul of the party. She loved to travel, loved fun but she wasn't into camogie or football or nothing like that, she was just into spending money and fashion, art and creating things. Travel was a big thing for her and me and her have been halfway around the world by the time she was 11 years old.
“She really loved Thailand. We had been nine times and we had just come back from our last visit in January when we had been there for three weeks.
“We have so many lovely memories, but when you send your child to school, you think she is coming back and knowing she won't is a hard pill to swallow.”
The McMullan family home is situated just a short distance from the main dual carriageway, close to the Castledawson Roundabout. For Caitlin Rose to get home from school, she had to exit the bus onto a grass verge on a 60mph road with no footpaths.
Explaining what happened on that day, Stella said: “There's no bus shelter and basically the bus stops on a main road, the kids are dropped off, and the bus takes off. Caitlin Rose got off, came around the back of the bus and wasn't aware of the car coming from the other side because the bus hadn't taken off.
“She was blindsided as to the car coming, so she's obviously gone across the road, not looking and has come on a car.
“But there was no bus shelter for her to sit until the bus had taken off; she was getting off to a mucky verge, and this is the reality of what a lot of kids in rural areas are dropped off to every day.”
Stella told us that it is a daily occurrence where drivers overtake busses that have stopped to let school children off, and following her daughter's death, she felt compelled to do something so that no other family has to experience what she has.
“I was reading the other day that it is the law that you can’t pass a horse at any more than 10mph, but you can pass a child getting off a school bus at 60 miles an hour. I just like I feel like my daughter's been taken from me, and I feel like I need to do something to save other children's lives.
“As much as I'm grieving, and it's awful, I don't want to wait till next month, or until after three months or until another child dies. I need to do something about this.
“In America, they have flashing amber lights at the back of the bus, or there are other countries that have a thing called a bus hand which comes out the side of the bus to let drivers know that it is illegal to pass the bus because a child is getting off. But we have nothing like that in the North of Ireland.”
Stella said that the family were blown away by the support that they received from the local community in the aftermath of the incident and said that thousands of people arrived at their home in the days following including people who were bussed to the wake to pay their respects to Caitlin Rose.
Explaining how the idea for the petition came about, Stella said that after receiving a letter from First Minister Michelle O’Neill, she felt compelled to do something.
“I received a letter from Stormont from Michelle O’Neill, and I just felt like that was my sign that I needed to do something and that I needed to step up for Caitlin Rose.
“I was lying in bed two nights ago and decided to set up the petition and already we have close to 6,000 signatures. I have also had a lot of people contact me who lost children in similar accidents, and it is clear that something needs to be done. Obviously, I can't get Caitlin Rose back, but if I can put something in place within her memory, then at least I can get some sort of warmness from it.”
To sign Stella McMullan's petition, click here.
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