KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — It's a close call for a West Knoxville family after their five-year-old son almost gets hit by a speeding car passing a school bus.
Natalie Clanton was upstairs watching her son's school bus arrive when she saw it all unfold steps away from her home.
"Next thing you know, I see this white car zooming through out of nowhere," Clanton said.
Clanton said her mother was in the driveway and her son seconds away from crossing the street when she witnessed a driver ignore the bus stop sign and come to a late stop.
"It just doesn't look like he or she was going to stop, it's not slowing down," she said.
The family's home camera captured every second of it.
"It was scary," she said. "A few seconds later, my son came by and what if he were to get down quicker than that? I mean, what would have happened, then? I was a little shaken."
Clanton said her son knows traffic safety and had just started to cross the street by himself.
"As he was riding the bus, we used to wait for him on the other side where the bus stop but he was like, 'It's been a couple of weeks and I'm ready to cross the road,'" Clanton said.
Greg Mangan with Drive 4 Life Academy said he's seen situations like these way too often.
"It's upsetting to see people that ignore the school buses when they're stopped because of the huge danger that the children face walking around that school bus," Mangan said.
According to Tennessee driving law, a car needs to come to a complete stop 25 feet away from a school bus. Mangan said the driver from the video missed that.
"It was past the school bus, so the front of his car was probably 40 feet from where it should have been. It should have been 25 feet before the bus. It was about 15 feet past the front of the bus," he said.
A failure to stop can lead to violations.
"Drivers that make improper stops or ignore the stop law are looking at an eight-point violation. That's two-thirds of the way to license suspension," he said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Knox County School said:
"We urge drivers to slow down and stay focused particularly at our designated bus stops in the mornings and afternoons so students can get to school and home safely. If a school bus stops and extends its stop arm, they are picking up or dropping off students who may be crossing the street. Bus safety is a shared responsibility, and everyone needs to do their part to keep students safe."
Last week a Knox County student was hit by a car that again failed to stop for a bus. It happened in Southeast Knox County. The 7-year-old victim is expected to be well. The driver was cited for reckless driving and for driving around the school bus with its yellow lights on.