AUGUSTA - The Maine Legislature voted this week to advance LD 62, An Act to Require Antipinch Sensors on School Bus Doors, sponsored by Rep. Cheryl Golek, D-Harpswell.
As amended, the bill would require antipinch sensors to be installed in all new school buses starting in 2025.
In 2022, two students, one from Auburn and another from Buxton, were caught by their school bus doors and subsequently dragged down the road. Antipinch sensors can help prevent these types of accidents by stopping doors from closing with a child caught in them.
"Children deserve to be safe when traveling to and from school each day," said Golek. "Maine has already experienced too many preventable incidents in which children became caught in school bus doors. While these did not lead to severe physical injury or death, these children and families will be left with the trauma for life. By placing this simple piece of technology on the doors, we will protect our children and prevent traumatic and potentially life-threatening experiences."
The bill faces further votes in the House and Senate in the coming weeks.
Golek, a member of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee and the Joint Select Committee on Housing, is serving her first term in the Maine House and represents Harpswell and part of Brunswick.