After the death of eight-year-old Adalynn Pierce as she was boarding her school bus last year, Addy’s Law was introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives to increase safety for students. Adalynn was boarding a bus to go to Rock Springs Elementary in McDonough, GA.
Specifically, Addy’s Law would raise the penalty for passing a stop sign on a school bus from $250 to $1,000. It also prohibits kids from crossing the road to board buses on roads with a speed limit above 40 miles per hour. Community member and student Naella Medrano was a large proponent for the bill, and believes it will make effective change.
“The law quadruples the fine, and also if somebody does it more than once, then their information will be sent to their insurance carrier,” Georgia House Republican Representative Lauren Daniel said. “When deciding on ideas for the bill, I thought that was the best way to handle it because I think that’s the best way to prevent the behavior of the driver right now.”
On top of the law, extra measures are being implemented, such as cameras that record people who pass a bus when it’s stopped.
“Stop-cameras are on the side of the bus, and whenever the bus stops, they activate, and it is to catch people who pass the school bus while they’re stopped for kids boarding,” Medrano said. “We can’t enforce the penalty unless we have a way to catch the people who do it.”
Jada Wright, Adalynn Pierce’s stepsister, believes the law will bring change.
“It was stress-relieving to find out the law had been passed because we were working on it forever,” Jada Wright said. “I mean, when it got passed, I thought people are finally getting the message, and people are finally understanding why this is a good idea, and why everything that’s getting put in place, in the law, is eligible to save other kids.”
The bill was sponsored by Daniel, after she was approached with the proposal by Medrana. Daniel believes the speed at which the law passed shows the community supports the change.
“Government doesn’t move fast, ever; the average time to pass a bill is several years,” Daniel said. “By the grace of God, it was passed in two months, and we worked hard; so, I think it’s a testament to what happens when your community rallies behind something.”
Medrano also wanted the law to pass quickly.
“Originally, we had no expectations [on the trajectory of the law getting passed], like we wanted it to get through fast, but anybody in the law will tell you that it is not that easy,” Medrano said. “When we went to the bill signing, there were laws that had been worked on for six years that were just getting signed in, and ours only took two months; so, it was very quick, and we did not expect it, but we were very thankful for it.”
In this time, Medrano worked to research the need to convince lawmakers of the necessity of the bill.
“I proposed reform of statistics from all of the 50 states on their penalty for passing a stopped school bus, as well as past and previous accidents that have resulted in casualties because of stopping passing a stopped school bus,” Medrano said. “That was when we found out that Georgia actually had the highest amount of fatalities, with 37, from 1970 to 2021.”
Alexa Wright, also Pierce’s stepsister, was in contact with Naella and Daniel throughout the process of getting Addy’s Law approved.
“I’m very thankful for Naella and her mom for helping us because they made a big impact,” Wright said. “So did Representative Lauren Danie;everyone’s help did not go unnoticed at all.”
As hard as it was for Alexa Wright to lose a sibling, she still holds Addy very near to her heart.
“Addy’s the one person I will never forget about because I do know that one day I will see her again in heaven,” Alexa Wright said. “That’s what keeps me motivated; I know it’s not goodbye, but see you later. I just think I know that Addy would want me to keep going. It was hard to lose her, but I hold her in my heart every day.”
