Miranda Vargas' Dad Visits Congress To Push For Bus Safety Bills

PARAMUS, NJ — Miranda Vargas' father and sister spoke with members of Congress Wednesday on her behalf. They're fighting for what they said is common sense regarding school bus safety.

It is what his late daughter, who died in a bus crash last year, would want them to do, Joevanny Vargas said.

"We would never want anyone to go through this torture. We don’t want this to ever happen again," Madison Vargas said of her twin's death. "We have to make sure that whoever is behind the wheel is someone we can trust."

Vargas, his daughter, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer went door to door at the U.S. Capital Building in Washington, D.C. and spoke with congressional representatives, including Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Oregon and chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. They are trying to get support for two legislative bills Gottheimer is sponsoring designed to protect kids on school buses.

Miranda Vargas was a 10-year-old fifth-grader on a field trip when the school bus she was in collided with a dump truck on Interstate 80 in May 2018. Her teacher was also killed in the crash and dozens more from East Brook Middle School in Paramus were injured, some critically.

The bipartisan Miranda Vargas School Bus Driver Red Flag Act, or "Miranda’s Law," which was created following news that Hudy Muldrow Sr., 78, drove the bus despite his driver's license being suspended 14 times since 1975, most recently from December 2017 to January 2018. He reportedly made an illegal U-turn on a police turnaround to get to the other side of the highway. That's when a dump truck crashed into the bus.

"It's been a very difficult time for us," Joevanny Vargas said at a press conference with his daughter and Gottheimer. "Miranda, she would want us to fight. She loved kids, and she would want us to continue the fight to ensure that what happened to her doesn't happen to anyone else."

Miranda's Law would guarantee real-time backgrounds checks on school bus drivers. Schools or school bus companies would be alerted by the U.S. Department of Transportation within 24 hours about an infraction posted to a bus driver's record.

"Right now, you have, literally, you have a background check on Monday, pass it, on a Tuesday get a DUI, and the only requirement is self-reporting. The school district would never have to know that," Gottheimer said. "As a parent, I would want to know."

The other bills is the SECURES Act, which would require three-point lap-and-shoulder belts on all school buses, nationwide.

"We want that to be the law of the land," said, Gottheimer, a Democrat from Wyckoff.

Vargas and Gottheimer met with Sens. Cory Booker and Robert Mendenez about introducing companion legislation in the Senate, something Gottheimer's office said would happen today.

"Every day parents are entrusting their child’s bus driver to get them to and from school safely, and they deserve to know that the person behind the wheel is qualified," Booker said in a statement. "By strengthening oversight and requiring notification of any changes in driving record, Miranda’s Law will ensure schools have the information they need about their bus drivers’ records so no family has to feel the heartbreak and loss experienced by the family of Miranda Vargas. This commonsense legislation will help keep our kids safe and their parents’ minds at ease."

Joevanny Vargas successfully pushed New Jersey lawmakers to pass a law requiring three-point seat belts on schools buses, one of the few laws like it in the United States. The law was also nicknamed "Miranda's Law."

"I don't understand how we live in a day and age of artificial intelligence, we're talking about receiving holograms on FaceTime, but yet we can't protect our children," Joevannay Vargas said.

Related:

• Teacher, Student Confirmed Dead In Paramus Field Trip Bus Crash
• Miranda Faith Vargas ID'd As Student Victim Of Paramus Bus Crash
• Miranda's Law Would Create Bus Driver Safety Notification System
• Murphy Signs School Bus Seat Belt Legislation Into Law
• Why Was Elderly Man With 14 Suspensions Driving Doomed NJ Bus?

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com