A little shaken and very pissed

klondikebar · September 2013

Some guy crashed into the street sign at the entrance to our development about 10 minutes ago. That is DS1's bus stop. They line up right next to that sign. His bus comes in a few minutes from now. OMFG. A neighbor witnessed it. I guess the guy admitted to texting and driving. No one was seriously hurt. Don't fucking text and drive while going 50 mph in the dark, asshole. I hope he pissed his pants and broke his phone.

RondackHiker · September 2013

What a douche. Did the neighbor tell him he could have hit kids?

I hope he's got a nasty case of whiplash, his phone broke, and the sign and car are expensive to fix.

MrsCodeMonkey · September 2013

Wow, that's terrible! Glad no one was at the bus stop at that time.

klondikebar · September 2013

HilarityEnsued said:

Jesus. That is so scary. Try not to drive yourself crazy with all the "what ifs" because it seems like it would be so easy to in that situation. Thank goodness no one is hurt.

People frequently drive like assholes down that road. I hate it. I'm not a big what if person. The neighbor that told me that he'd be driving the kids to school from now on. I don't think that is necessary. Accidents can happen at any bus stop. I'll be fine later, but I'm just pissed right now.

klondikebar · September 2013

RondackHiker said:

What a douche. Did the neighbor tell him he could have hit kids? I hope he's got a nasty case of whiplash, his phone broke, and the sign and car are expensive to fix.

Yeah, I think the neighbor gave the driver an earful after he saw he wasn't hurt. I'd like to add spilling hot coffee in his lap to the list.

klondikebar · September 2013

I'm really not a glass is half full, silver linings type, but I hope this was a wakeup call for the driver. Next time someone could get hurt. Maybe this prevented a serious future injury.

klondikebar · September 2013

HilarityEnsued said:

Is there a way the kids can line up further away from the street and when they see the bus go up to the sign?

Not really. We've tried, but the bus driver gave us a hard time. There is a curve in the road and tons of trees. The lights on the bus can't be seen until it's almost right there. "The kids need to be in line and not moving when the bus is approaching." She's a peach. We had her last year and parents called the transportation dept on her for several things.

For our original bus stop, we had to exit our development and walk down a 50mph road with no sidewalks, minimal streetlights and a tiny shoulder, then cross the street. The transportation dept said that wasn't right and changed the stop to the entrance of our development. The driver threw a stink about making an extra stop and refused for a week. There is a serious lack of enforcement.

NotSharknado · September 2013

Thank goodness nobody was hurt. What a jerk.

LoveActually4 · September 2013

If you can, I would go take pictures of the scene and lobby your city to post signs saying children are present and have an increased police presence for the next week. Hopefully they'll pull over those speeding assholes and ticket them.

RondackHiker · September 2013

I'd take this incident to the bus garage, and ask if the kids can stand even fifteen feet back from the sign and move once the bus stops. I can see the worry about kids walking to a moving bus, but if people are idiots, they should be allowed to be safe.

klondikebar · September 2013

mamaREB29 said:

If you can, I would go take pictures of the scene and lobby your city to post signs saying children are present and have an increased police presence for the next week. Hopefully they'll pull over those speeding assholes and ticket them.

He wasn't speeding. That's the speed limit.

klondikebar · September 2013

RondackHiker said:

I'd take this incident to the bus garage, and ask if the kids can stand even fifteen feet back from the sign and move once the bus stops. I can see the worry about kids walking to a moving bus, but if people are idiots, they should be allowed to be safe.

I plan on calling later this morning. We'll see what happens. Probably nothing.

RondackHiker · September 2013

KlondikeBar said:

mamaREB29 said:

If you can, I would go take pictures of the scene and lobby your city to post signs saying children are present and have an increased police presence for the next week. Hopefully they'll pull over those speeding assholes and ticket them.

He wasn't speeding. That's the speed limit.

That's why I think you need to have the bus department say the kids need to wait fifteen feet back from the sign.

Speed traps won't permanently fix the speeders or reduce the speed limit. The children should be farther back. If they just started waiting fifteen feet back and didn't walk till she stopped, what would she do?

klondikebar · September 2013

@RondackHiker We tried it before. The parents and kids got lectured about state law. I guess we could just keep doing it. I guess they can refuse to stop if the kids aren't in their designated area when the bus approaches. IDK if they would actually do that though.

RondackHiker · September 2013

KlondikeBar said:

@RondackHiker We tried it before. The parents and kids got lectured about state law. I guess we could just keep doing it. I guess they can refuse to stop if the kids aren't in their designated area when the bus approaches. IDK if they would actually do that though.

What state law says the children need to stand within five feet of a busy road? They're waiting, lined up, where the bus will stop and the bus doesn't need to shift where it parks to accommodate them. It just needs to wait ten more seconds. I'd do it and call the superintendent.

studyinpink · September 2013

I would be pretty pissed about the crappy bus driver too. She sounds like a peach.

klondikebar · September 2013

RondackHiker said:

@RondackHiker We tried it before. The parents and kids got lectured about state law. I guess we could just keep doing it. I guess they can refuse to stop if the kids aren't in their designated area when the bus approaches. IDK if they would actually do that though.
What state law says the children need to stand within five feet of a busy road? They're waiting, lined up, where the bus will stop and the bus doesn't need to shift where it parks to accommodate them. It just needs to wait ten more seconds. I'd do it and call the superintendent.

That's a good point. I think they just have to be in the designated spot standing still when the bus approaches. I should look up the exact wording before I call. I doubt the state designates the actual placement of the spot. Then again, there are a lot of stupid laws out there.

klondikebar · September 2013

Thanks for all of the input and ideas. I'm off to the doctor. I'll make the call when I get back and give an update.

RondackHiker · September 2013

I don't remember what state you live in, and I know state laws vary, but here's my perspective from growing up in rural NY state. I know in most states, the bus must stop at the designated stop. So if the stop is at the intersection of road X and Road Y, the children must wait at the intersection, not fifty feet further down Road Y on their porch (you can't change where the bus stops or walk too far, so delaying the bus and traffic).

However, winters in NY were brutal and there are many long driveways in the country. A lot of my friends would wait in their parent's car and would climb out when the bus appeared or would wait in bus shelters, like this one:

That'd be at the intersection of a few farms/roads or the end of a driveway. They're usually fifteen to twenty feet back from the road to avoid damage from plows and is designed to give children a dry spot to wait away from the snow.

If the bus garage tries to spew state law at you and say that children must wait at the spot, say that they're waiting at the spot, at a safe distance of 20 feet from the 55 mph road where a recent accident proves it's unsafe to wait directly at the sign. Use the word safety a lot.

If they're really stubborn, ask them if you really need to move the designated bus stop to allow the kids to wait fifteen feet back until the bus stops.

What was the bus garage's response to the driver refusing to stop at the designated stop? That should have been a fireable offense. I'd ask how they plan to handle further incidents in case the bus driver refuses to stop again. If the children are at the designated spot, as long as there is nothing unsafe (downed power lines, etc), the bus driver isn't allowed to leave them behind.

LaurelBee · September 2013

Can you call your aldermen about putting in road bumps maybe?? That's a shitty situation, I'm sorry your nerves got rattled today. But I'm very happy to hear no one was injured! Hopefully this is a wake up call to Mr Douche Texter

Libby1978 · September 2013

That is really scary. I'm glad everyone is ok.

klondikebar · September 2013

I called. They are looking into it. Bleh.

I know you aren't allowed to wait in vehicles as the bus approaches. That much is in the school handbook. They didn't tell me anything. We'll see what they say when they call me back.

EMOmamma · September 2013

I've worked and designed for the Safe Routes To School programs around the country - here are a few links if you want more info. Mainly your city can get grants to improve things like this (if they use cost as a reason they can't help you). It also has standards and guidelines. Some of the things you can ask for are lighting, signing, physical barrier (ie they line up behind some kind of guardrail), traffic calming, reduced speed zone, or relocation. PM me if you have any questions.

https://www.saferoutesinfo.org/

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/safe_routes_to_school/

bulbasaur359 · September 2013

This really sucks. Yes your bus driver sounds like a pita. I don't blame your neighbor for just driving to the school. If you know them well you could set up a carpool between the 2 of you. Hopefully it works out though. Kids safety is way more important than effiency in my book.

virgin4lyfe · September 2013

Yeah, no, your bus driver can suck a big one. Sounds like she needs to.
Glad you're at least trying to get things changed. Document the spot if there's still like skidmarks or broken stop sign or whatever to prove the accident was right where the kids are and keep fighting.

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