John Washington III Asks Whether Inactive School Buses Are Being Used to Trap Drivers — and Demands Answers

John Washington III, a candidate for president in 2028, raised serious concerns Monday about reports and allegations involving old, inactive school buses being used to catch drivers who pass while the buses' stop signs are activated — buses, he wrote, that are allegedly no longer being used to transport children, yet are being operated in ways that result in traffic citations. "School bus laws were created to protect our children, NOT to create another revenue stream for city and state governments," he wrote.

John Washington III drew a bright line around the child-safety purpose of those laws. He said he fully supports protecting children, and that any driver who illegally passes a school bus and endangers children should be held accountable. "But there is a difference between protecting children and deliberately setting people up to receive traffic tickets," he wrote. If city governments and police departments are deliberately approving such tactics simply to collect more money from hardworking Americans, he wrote, "THAT IS A SERIOUS ABUSE OF GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY."

He also set out what his administration would do about the allegations. "UNDER MY ADMINISTRATION, WE WILL NOT IGNORE THESE ALLEGATIONS," he wrote, pledging to push for federal investigations, where legally authorized, into cities, states and law enforcement agencies accused of deliberately manufacturing traffic violations for financial gain, and to pursue accountability through every lawful avenue available, including federal civil rights enforcement where violations of federal law are established. "No city government, police department, or state official should be above accountability," he wrote. "THE GOVERNMENT WORKS FOR THE PEOPLE. THE PEOPLE DO NOT EXIST TO FUND THE GOVERNMENT THROUGH DECEPTIVE ENFORCEMENT PRACTICES."

If an inactive school bus is being used primarily to generate citations rather than protect children, John Washington III wrote, the public deserves to know who authorized it, why it was authorized, and whether those citations were lawful — and he said stronger safeguards are needed. He framed the statement under a question he put at the top of it: "SCHOOL BUS SAFETY OR GOVERNMENT ENTRAPMENT? THE PEOPLE DESERVE ANSWERS."