Drivers passing school bus--rant!

[ILUVMYBRIT]

In other words, yes, you completely overreacted with the statement about "endangering a busload of kids".



Yes, drivers should stop if the sign is out, because it is the law. But it is not necessarily true that it is a safety issue whether there is one kid or 10 kids boarding the bus.

Soooooooo, how exactly does that driver know that there is no other child about to come onto that bus??? What if there was another child from across the street that is on that bus and was running late? IT DOESNT MATTER HOW MANY KIDS ARE GETTING ON! As a driver in a car you never know what is going on. You sit and wait your turn because next time IT COULD be a bus full of kids being endangered.

 

[Becky2005]

Soooooooo, how exactly does that driver know that there is no other child about to come onto that bus??? What if there was another child from across the street that is on that bus and was running late? IT DOESNT MATTER HOW MANY KIDS ARE GETTING ON! As a driver in a car you never know what is going on. You sit and wait your turn because next time IT COULD be a bus full of kids being endangered.

Exactly. One summer the first day of school my DS bus stopped on the opposite side of the road. We had to cross the road. It was only 1 child loading but we still had to cross the road. Apparently, when they made the schedule they didn't realize which side of the street we were on. That day he also had to cross the road getting off the bus. If any driver ignored the stop sign we could have gotten hit.

How are you as a driver supposed to know where the child that is getting on/off the bus is going to be coming from?

ESPECIALLY when school first starts, no one knows the routine, nothing is predictable.

As an aside -- busses aren't supposed to pull in driveways. I think it has to do with the backing up and other rules (for the fact that they need clearance for the yellow arm that swings out on the front now when they open the door).

 

[BuckNaked]

The OP didn't overreact. That driver had no way of knowing if there were other students coming for the bus. Children aren't known for their incredible impulse control.

What the driver of the car knew is completely irrelevant to the statement of fact by the OP that the driver was endangering a busload of kids. That was not true, and the OP knew it, yet felt the need to throw in that extra "umph" for effect.

How many times have you seen children running to catch the bus?

Handicapped buses? Never. Again, my comments about overreaction are aimed directly at the OP's claim that a busload of children were endangered, which she knew was not the case.

Driving past the bus is illegal, and should be punishable when caught. There really isn't any need to hyper-dramatize the situation.

If it takes several minutes to get the child onto the bus and ready to go, why can't the bus pull into the driveway so it doesn't disrupt traffic?

Exactly, I don't see why that isn't done also, although as I mentioned, in DC it is rarely an issue, at least near where I work. The bus pulls up to the curb, and the stop signs are never even put out.

 

[minkydog]

Today is the first day of school and already there's an antsy neighbor passing my 11yo son's bus. He rides the "special" bus because he's mentally handicapped, as are several other riders. It takes us a few minutes to get him boarded--he's slow but steady. Neighbor, can you not wait 5minutes for a disabled child to get aboard? Do you not realize you could be endangering a busload of kids? It's the first day of school, for crying out loud! The bus driver is distracted learning new names and faces, helping my off-balance child get up the steps safely. Some of these kids have never ridden a bus before. They may not know the rules yet. What if one of them got off accidentally and you hit them? What if you bump the bus and my so falls off the step? Just wait!

If you need to be at work that badly, leave 5 minutes earlier. The bus will be in front of my house every morning at 7am until the end of May.You need to adjust your schedule accordlngly.

Here is my original post and I stand by it. DS's bus has 6 seats and 4 tie-downs for W/Cs. That constitutes his busload. If even one of those kids falls out of the seat it can be a problem. On the first day of school, some of the kids aren't familiar with bus behavior yet. A car driver passing a bus in a hurry has the potential to clip the bus, sending one or more of these kids flying if they aren't seated yet. Furthermore, it's unnecessary. It takes about 5minutes or less to load the bus. My son has been riding this bus for 6 yrs. It has stopped at the same driveway every day. The driver doesn't pull in because it's hard to back a bus safely out of my narrow drive. Instead, she pulls down to the culdesac and turns around there so as to not run over anyone else's child.

 

[Bob Slydell]

ETA: the neighbor stopped this a.m.

I'm glad you didn't call the cops on him on Day 1 of the school year. Remember, everyone has to adjust to the beginning of each school year, students, parents and other drivers.

 

[BuckNaked]

Here is my original post and I stand by it.

As is certainly your right. And I stand by my opinion that you over dramatized it to the point of making it sound like the neighbor was trying to mow down children for no other reason than he was in a hurry, as is my right.

As for calling the police, I'm also glad you didn't. I don't see how they could have done anything anyway, since they didn't see it.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

being the 1st day of school, maybe your neighbor was "zoned out" and did not realize the bus was there with lights flashing.

I did that once, and I was MORTIFIED. Totally zoned out, and I realized when it was too late that the bus had stopped and the lights were flashing, but I kept going.

Giving your neighbor the benefit of the doubt this ONE time.

 

[minkydog]

being the 1st day of school, maybe your neighbor was "zoned out" and did not realize the bus was there with lights flashing.

I did that once, and I was MORTIFIED. Totally zoned out, and I realized when it was too late that the bus had stopped and the lights were flashing, but I kept going.

Giving your neighbor the benefit of the doubt this ONE time.

Yeah, that's what i think too. My neighbors are usually pretty good about watching for the short buses--we have two that come to our neighborhood. I'm hoping this was just a brain dead moment.

 

[SueM in MN]

If it takes several minutes to get the child onto the bus and ready to go, why can't the bus pull into the driveway so it doesn't disrupt traffic?

There is a handicapped child a few miles from me that takes quite a few minutes to get onto the bus as he is in a special wheelchair and they use the electric lift for him. The bus holds up traffic for several minutes, the lines get long on both sides. The house has a semi-circle driveway. I don't understand why the bus (it's a "short" bus, not a regular long one) can't pull into the driveway to let the child on so traffic isn't stopped/held up for so long. I've only had to stop a couple of times, so it's really no big deal to me, but for those who are driving that route at that time every day it's probably quite an inconvenience and could be solved by the bus pulling into the driveway.

A bus can't pull into a driveway usually. The bus drivers try to avoid backing up the bus if at all possible. Also, even though a driveway might look fairly level, if it's not level, the bus lift might not work correctly, or there may be too much of a sideways angle to load the wheelchair. Besides that, the driveway may be too narrow to let down a lift and load a wheelchair.
In our state, the special needs bus can be passed while it is stopping, as long as the STOP sign and blinkers are not turned on.