On the news tonight at 11pm they reported that THIRTY FOUR (!!!) schoolbusses here in Northern VA had still not dropped off their children. This was because of the almost one inch of snow we got, I assume.
ELEVEN PM!!! THIRTY FOUR BUSSES!!! Can you imagine the heart attacks those parents were having!??
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O p a l C a t
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Those poor kids must of been pretty shaken up too. Not to mention the fact they were probably starving. My kids get home at three, and the first thing they do is hit the fridge.To hear them tell it they would die on the spot if they don’t get a snack before dinner.
I also have to wonder if they were on busses all that time what about bathroom breaks??
I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.
Jeez Louise, we had a ton of snow here in the past twenty four hours and my son’s bus was 10 minutes late. I would be having heart failure if he was more than a half hour late.
I realize that maybe down in that area they arent as prepared for snow as we are, but 11 at night, thats really pathetic.
We are, each of us angels with only one wing,and we can only fly by embracing one another
Opal, are you sure this wasn’t just a leftover news segment from the 6 o’clock broadcast that they replayed by accident, not realizing that the kids were perhaps home by 11? I don’t know how a news station could make a slip up like that. If they’re still on the bus, I doubt that many will be in school tomorrow - elementary school kids need their sleep, you know!
Well they said during a commercial break later that they would have an “update on the schoolbus situation”
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Teeming Millions: http://fathom.org/teemingmillions
“Meat flaps, yellow!” - DrainBead, naked co-ed Twister chat
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com
Well, I caught the re-broadcast of WUSA-TV 9 Eyewitness News at 11pm. Apparently it’s only 19 buses in Prince George’s County in Maryland that hasn’t arrived home (as of 11:07pm). Andrea Roane talked with the superintendent over the air. I hope the kids are home by now!!!
That is pretty bad. Another story to share, somewhat related. In Raleigh, back in August or September, some of the kids on the school bus were acting up, so the driver got pissed off and did this: Turned the heat on (it was mid to upper 90’s outside) and, at random intervals, slammed on the brakes to freak the kids out. S/he doesn’t drive schoolbuses anymore.
WJLA this morning said that the last busses got home after midnight.
We’re suppoed to get more snow tonight (1-3 inches). Undoubtedly cause for hoarding and major panic.
For what it’s worth, the problem was ice, not snow; they had pictures of the busses sliding all over.
There a dusting of snow down here in Hampton Roads and the secondary roads are a tad glazed.
246 accidents in the area last night!!!
Schools closed or opening late!!
Roadways shut down!!!
Cats living with dogs!!!
Jeezul-peezul, folks.
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This is because the DC area is populated by snow idiots. I’m originally from Colorado, and I can’t believe the stupidity I see on snowy days. I don’t go out in storms, not because of the conditions, but because I’m afraid some idiot will plow into me.
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OK, this area is pretty heavily populted I presume, suburbs and such. Considering there were 34/19 buses out, I presume I’m right. So what is the maximum distance any of these buses likely would have travelled? I can’t imagine any more than 15-20 miles for the longest route. These kids could have walked home in less than 8 hrs. I can’t begin to understand the massve stupidity it must take to have this much trouble getting the kids home. Snow idiots or not, 1in of snow is nothing, especially for a heavy bus with good traction. A sheet of ice is troublesome, but going 2 mph the buses still would have gotten them home before 11 pm. Something is missing from this story, could it be that the kids were simply kept in school until the roads were deemed safe? You know an entire building full of elementery kids with nothing to do? Under which conditions the parents wuld all have been called and notified, or at least informed via radio and TV. If anyone has a link outlining the problem, I’d really need to see it to buy this story. I find it hard to believe that parents are sitting at home wondering where their kids are at 11pm.
See http://www.wtop.com/mainstory3.html
I’ve driven on ice and snow all of my driving life so I know how to handle it, and I know that as a parent, I would have jumped in my car, called the bus company to find out where my son’s bus was and picked him up and brought him home. But, for people who have no experience driving on ice, it can just make things worse having them on the road. Thats generally where the accidents happen, with the people who panic and hit their brakes which is an absolute no no.
I definitely feel sorry for those young kids who were on that bus, hungry, tired and more than likely very scared by a situation they probably didnt understand and a driver who was also quite likely pretty scared.
We are, each of us angels with only one wing,and we can only fly by embracing one another
This is why I like standard shift instead of automatic… downshifting is a better way to control yopur speed than brakes. Although anti-lock brakes are pretty amazing…
Could be too that school busses don’t have the newest tires, and the lack of thick treads made dealing with the ice more dangerous, even for a heavy vehicle. It might have been a better idea to nix bus service yesterday afternoon and put out word for parents to pick up their own kids directly from school.
When I lived in Huntsville, AL, not the snow and ice capital of the world by any means, people would panic in an inch or two of snow - everyone made a mad dash to the store for bread and milk, and a dozen or so of these idiots put their cars in ditches every hour. That kept the police busy, the roads clogged, and could have hindered busses were it not for the fact that schools closed early and people were directed to pick up their own kids as busses weren’t running.
Funny… I live in Colorado, and won’t go out on snowy days for the same reason!
I live in NC. I’ve seen them close schools here because they thought it was going to snow.
Thing is, we didn’t get any.
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Vaguely related story:
About five years ago (I figured out the date; my friend was complaining about bad stuff happening on her birthday, and mentioned this. January 6th. Her fifth grade year, my sixth grade year. We didn’t know each other then.) During the day, the streets had apparently frozen over to the point where driving on them was extremely difficult. At the end of the day, they had us sit around for a while. It was rather cold out too, so they kept us inside. We sat around almost forever, then buses arrived. We were shipped to one of the elementary schools. We waited around (outside) for quite a while for buses to take us to our homes. Eventually, they did arrive. I got home about 3 hours later than usual. I’ll stop rambling.
Neil
Probably not. I’m sure that a lot of parents would have had a difficult time arranging a ride for their children to get home.
(the odd thing is that we’ve had worse storms that caught us by surprise and traffic wasn’t as bad as it was yesterday.)
The problem wasn’t the buses; it was the traffic, overall. I’m clueless as to how or why, but there’s no doubt about it - yesterday, less than an inch of snow brought the greater DC area to a near standstill.
I grew up in the DC area, and I’m back again. I know how badly DC residents cope with snow. But even by DC standards, yesterday was some sort of record.
I had an easier time getting home the long-ago day of Air Florida’s express flight to the 14th street bridge! :rolleyes: