Changing lives forever

Nick Adkins’ death is heartbreaking on many levels, the most poignant being the loss of a young life with so much left to share.

Adkins, a 16-year-old McMichael High School sophomore, died Monday morning while crossing the road in front of his Stoneville home. A sport utility vehicle struck him after failing to stop for the flashing lights and extended stop arm of the school bus waiting for Adkins and other students in front of Westridge Apartments on N.C. 770. Judy Earlene Stilwell, 60, of Stoneville, was driving the SUV that struck Adkins. She was charged with passing a stopped school bus involving injury or death and released on $15,000 bail.

Her fate will be left to the legal system. But whatever the outcome, her life will never be the same. North Carolina has strict laws in regard to passing a stopped school bus, and state officials should be lauded for their efforts in trying to keep our children safe.

But there is only so much government or parents can do to protect their children, an unfortunate facet of life that became so painfully clear Monday. About two-thirds of school bus-related fatalities happen outside the bus, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For the past 11 years, an average of 35 school-age children died in school bus-related traffic crashes each year —nine school bus occupants and 26 pedestrians. In December 2007, for example, three people were charged with a hit-and-run that left a 6-year-old High Point girl in the hospital. The girl was struck exiting the bus.

A child leaving a school bus amounts to an inherently dangerous situation, particularly when he must cross a usually busy highway. A centralized bus stop may be one answer, though students may still have to walk on dangerous roadways. Redoing routes so students won’t have to cross a road would be tedious and maybe all but impossible. But parents and educators can help by an added emphasis on safety, stressing the importance of looking both ways and ensuring the path is clear before stepping into the road, despite the lights and stop arm.

Maybe Adkins’ death will spur us to enhance school bus safety to the point that tragedies such as Monday’s will no longer occur. But today, we have a hole in our hearts that neither words nor promises can fill.

Adkins, who transferred from Morehead in Eden, contributed to the McMichael newspaper, The Phoenix Scope.

“He said he wanted to be remembered as someone who wanted to have said more,” said Lyn Carlisle, Adkins’ journalism teacher at McMichael. “But we’ll certainly remember him for what he did say and accomplish.”

We surely will.