Ohio State Highway Patrol uses May Gallia County illegal passing video in school bus safety warning

GALLIA COUNTY, Ohio (WOWK) – The Ohio State Highway Patrol is using footage of an incident that happened in Gallia County last school year to remind drivers to use caution around school buses and their students.

“With school back in session, this is a reminder: STOP for school buses when their lights are flashing and the stop arm is extended,” the OSHP said in part.

This reminder comes just as students across Gallia County headed back to the classroom this week.

The post was accompanied by a video of a pickup truck going off the right side of the road to pass a bus that was stopped to allow students to cross the street. Troopers shared a video of the incident released by Gallipolis City Schools on the OSHP Facebook page.

According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the incident happened in May 2025 within the Gallipolis City Schools district.

The video shows three children crossing the street. Just as the third student nears the white line for the oncoming traffic lane, a pickup truck becomes visible in the school bus’s right rearview mirror as it goes off the right side of the roadway to pass the bus.

The video shows the truck emerge in front of the bus in the spot the children were standing just ten seconds earlier.

According to the OSHP, the Gallipolis Post was able to track down the driver, who was cited in the incident.

As the school year begins across the Tri-State, there have already been two incidents of vehicle crashes involving school buses.

One incident happened Tuesday, Aug. 19, in which a Pikeville Independent Schools bus was rear-ended on Cedar Creek.

The second incident happened on Friday, Aug. 15, in which a school bus allegedly sideswiped a Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority bus. The school bus driver has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident in that crash.

Just hours after the OSHP made their post, two Kanawha County School buses were involved in a rear-end crash near Herbert Hoover High School.