ALT-1 Stopping for School Buses
Do I stop, do I go? What to do? Why all the confusion? We aren't talking cattle crossing.
No need to over think it. If the lights are flashing yellow...slow down. A school bus is preparing to stop.
Picking up or dropping off, each is a potentially dangerous situation. As a driver I see my bus approached by trucks and cars inhabited by people who are more than likely curteous, law abiding and cautious.Then, a strange transformation comes over them as they approach our big yellow chariots. Frenzy sets in, frothing. I know for a fact this occurs because, even we school busdrivers ourselves, HATE being caught behind another school bus on our routes! It seems comical! The reality of it, though, is that those approaching the bus early in the morning are not focused on the fact that there are small, distracted bundles of energy with very minute attention spans standing at the curbs they are approaching. All it takes is one dropped paper, lunch box, a pretty falling leaf, to catch their attention and they are off. Down the side walks, up on neighbors lawns and sadly, out in the street. Yes, parents need to pay attention and most do. Parents also mingle and talk together.
Remember the addage Never ASSUME because when you do you make an ASS of U and ME? This does not hold true in these circumstances. As a driver of a car or truck, motor bike or bicycle, ASSUME that the kids ARE going to walk off the curb. Stumble crossing to or from the front of the bus. They will drop the paper, backpack, mother or father's day present, painting, coat or umbrella as they have been taught to ignore over and over again. They will do it because they are CHILDREN.
At a railroad crossing, yes, it's legal in my state of Massachusetts to pass the bus as it stops for the Railroad Crossing. Have you really reasoned it out though? We stop because we know that crossing lights do not always work. Things break down. Malfunction. Why, for the few seconds you gain, would you risk cutting around a bus only to find a train bearing down on you? Why? Sip your coffee and wait. Life is so worth it.
In the school yard, if your school has a sign posted 'Bus Lane Only' or 'Do Not Enter When Buses In Driveway'. Please don't do it! Teachers are notorious for disregarding these signs. Parents will refuse to park in the lot and walk their children across the 'crosswalk' designated as the SAFE place to cross. What laziness is this? Please people, stay out of our lane. Don't park in the lot and let you kids open the door and run across the bus driveway. As they are doing so Betty Jean has driven into our lane, dropped her kid off and is hittting the gas by us to hurry out to work or the store or for coffee. She isn't looking for your child to burst from the parking spaces and into the middle of the road. She is hurrying on her way.In March of this year a fellow driver came over the radio and cried for our base office to sesd her police and an ambulance as a car had passed through her lights and, as she put it, 'A car has hit one of my babies!'. I don't think any one of us had a dry eye. We laugh with our kids, yell at our kids and care deeply about them. I would like to think we all value our children. Simply, effectivly, stop.
