From staff reports

Escambia County School District bus driver Daisy Robinson was honored Monday in Tallahassee for her quick-thinking after she discovered a preschooler wandering near the road while she was driving her bus route last fall.

Daisy Robinson was honored as the 2013-2014 Florida Missing Children’s Day School Bus Operator of the Year.  She was elected by FDLE’s Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse Advisory Board.

Robinson was enroute to Ransom Middle School on Oct. 28, 2013, with a load of students when she discovered a 3-year old child wandering unattended near a busy road and active railroad tracks during morning rush hour in Cantonment.

Robinson stopped her vehicle and was able to get the child to the safety of her bus. Robinson then called dispatchers and repositioned her bus to a parking lot to wait for Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies to arrive.

“Daisy’s alert, prompt and heroic actions were instrumental in ensuring that little boy would not be killed, seriously injured, or abducted as he walked on the roadway that morning alone and oblivious to the danger,” wrote Robert Doss, the Escambia School District’s director of transportation, in his nomination letter. “We are proud of all of our school bus operators, but when this happened, we were particularly proud of Daisy and we were very happy for the little boy whose life was saved.”

She was honored by the district for her efforts on Dec. 17, 2013.

Florida First Lady Ann Scott, Escambia bus driver Daisy Robinson, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey pictured. Photo courtesy of the Escambia County School District.

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