West Shore School News is a presentation of West Shore Educational Service District in partnership with Mason County Press and Oceana County Press.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

AMBER TOWNSHIP — A new school bus safety campaign has its origins at the West Shore Educational Service District. A public service announcement video featuring NASCAR driver Ryan Preece will talk about the importance of stopping for school buses when their red lights are active. The idea for the PSA came from Katrina Morris who is the former director of transportation for the WSESD and is now executive director of Michigan Association of Pupil Transportation (MAPT).

“I had the idea about six years ago to work with a NASCAR team to do a PSA on the red lights of a school bus,” Morris said. “NASCAR has a huge fan base and my thought was that is where I could reach a lot of people.  Due to COVID we were not able to proceed with that team.”

Ryan Preece with Katrina Morris.

Morris, who still serves as a transportation consultant with the ESD, said on July 24 of this year she was visiting Roush Clean Tech in Livonia learning about how the company is involved in fueling school buses with propane.

“I pitched the idea to them, knowing they had a race team,” she said. “It isn’t only the race cars that go fast, their team does as well!  On Sept. 10, 2025 we were in Charlotte NC with NASCAR driver No. 60 Ryan Preece filming the PSA.”

The premise of the PSA is that Preece is shown driving fast stating that he doesn’t like to stop.

“It will show him passing a lemonade stand saying, ‘Nope, not stopping.’  Then his pit crew will call him in for four tires and he will say, ‘Nope not stopping.’  Then, he will come up on a school bus with its red lights on and he will say, ‘Even I have time to stop for the reds flashing of a school bus.  Please help protect the 26 million kids who ride our buses every day, when the reds are flashing, there is no passing.’”

Morris said the PSA is part of a push to educate the community on the importance of stopping for the reds flashing of a school bus.

“Every time it happens, a child’s life is put at risk, and no one wants to purposefully do that,” Morris said.

This PSA will go out nationally on Oct. 20, the first day of school bus safety week.

“Our hope is that all the states will push this out on social media platforms and through the news media outlets.  We have use of the PSA until the middle of January 2026,” she said.

Morris said MAPT is currently working on another PSA with a former Detroit Lions football player.

“I hope to film that in May and have it out for back to school in 2026.  Again, the Lions and football in general has a huge fan base.  If I can tap into a little slice of it for school bus safety, hopefully we can have no child’s life put at risk due to the passing of the red lights on a school bus.”

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