today, as I traveled to work, I stopped at an intersection. The street that I was on was a smaller side street, the other street a very main drag in town. My light’s red, so I’m waiting there. It turns green. then a school bus, traveling at a high rate of speed goes flying through on their red. As in, it wasn’t any where near to being in the intersection when the light turned red. There didn’t seem to be any students in the bus at the time (as close as I could tell as it flew by me).
Depends whether I ws able to get the bus number. If I did, then I would take great pleasure and pride in making damn sure that somebody was informed - starting with the police, continuing with the company that owns the bus, moving on to the Department of Children and Family Services (for possible child endangerment (if not then, probably at otehr times), and then the Department of Motor Vehicles, just to cover the bases.
Sorry, I can accept an occassional mistake or gaffe on the road. However, when you’re driving a school bus, all bets are off.
Second, if I had the presence of mind I would have tried to remember the bus number or license plate so that I could call the school and report it. I think that here there one county department that manages the school buses. It probably depends on where you live.
Even if there were no kids on the bus what the driver did was dangerous and needs to be reported if possible.
I would have followed it and tried to get the name of the bus company, any ID number on the bus, and a description of the driver, and call the bus company to report the incident. I did this several months ago when a school bus tailgated me on a country highway for a few miles, then passed me in a double-solid-yellow-line zone while approaching a blind hill. (Fortunately the bus did not seem to have any kids on it.) The person at the bus company said they would speak to him as soon as he got in (he was apparently on his way back to the garage).
I suppose if you really wanted to be snarky you could also inform the police, although I’m betting they wouldn’t be willing/able to do much.
This happens ALL THE TIME where I live (SoCal). Note the bus #, the intersection, and the time of day. They know by the logs exactly who was driving.
Call the school district, ask for the superintendent’s office, and let the supt know about it. Believe me, you have NEVER seen shit roll downhill so fast!
And please do it! That could be my kid on the next bus that does it!
(probably should have mentioned) yes, I did note the bus # (729), time, location, direction of the bus etc, and called (actually called first thing when I got to work).
Wondered if others felt the same way, and if it made a difference that there weren’t any students on the bus atthe time (it didn’t for me).
I don’t think it makes a difference that there weren’t students on the bus. Besides, there could have been students on the bus – if the driver was at the beginning of his route, there might only be a few children on the bus, and hey, kids are pretty short, maybe you didn’t see them as the bus raced past you.
Let the school district decide if it makes a difference to them if there were no children, now that you have alerted them to the incident.
Perhaps it depends on the local police, but I’ve found police more than willing to crack down on seomone who is endangering children. It’s a cliche, but a true one: cops hate people who endanger or hurt children. If you don’t get a satisfactory response from the drivers boss or the superintendent of the school district, I’d try them.
However, the superintendent is a great idea. Wish I’d thought of it.
Good for you, ** wring, ** to keep your presence of mind to get the number on the bus. I’m afraid, I might have been so startled, I’d only WISHED that I had gotten it.
Because, if the driver is driving like that, it isn’t the first time, and it probably isn’t the last either.
If you do manage to get the bus # or licence plate, you should make your report not only to the bus company, but also to your local school superintendent. We had some issues with our bus service last year and had absolutely no luck dealing with our Transportation Supervisor. She was only concerned with getting the buses from point A to point B. It was only after I wrote to our superintedent and our principal that I was able to get anything done.