Every afternoon, Monday through Friday at precisely 15:03, I make a left hand turn off of Main Street in Victor onto Birch Street. My elementary kids are on board and I’m heading down to the Community school to pick up my next batch. There are always a couple of small groups of Com School kids who have walked up to the highway to cross at the crosswalk by the city park and often times I wait for them to cross in front of me from the left.
Yesterday, just as the kids stepped off the curb and entered the crosswalk a small white sedan came flying by me on the right. Instead of stopping behind me all they saw was a big white bus making a left turn and perhaps didn’t know that there was an intersection, much less kids crossing, and passed me (illegally) on the inside, right through the reverse parking spots.
If the kids were in front of me I may have been able to get their attention by honking, or maybe not, it could have been a major tragedy!
As I’ve pondered about it since, my first thought was that swerving my bus to the right and taking out the car by knocking it into the park might be effective, but I had kids on board, so not an option. I realized I had to be proactive so I talked to Laurel, the head of the school, about it this morning.
I know they worry about those kids crossing a busy highway with a 35 mph speed, but we need to do more. Get the city involved, move the sheriff’s school patrol from the Elementary to this intersection, get some large poles with red flags for the kids to carry, or install a crossing light! Most of those kids have ridden my bus at one time or another and my continued protectiveness has made me angry. Something must be done!
In CA you MUST stop if a school, or any other, for that matter, bus is stopped and is flashing it’s yellow tail lights. You stop and remain there until the flashing lights go off. The busses also have stop signs on them that open up into traffic when unloading passengers. Too bad you didn’t get that person’s license plate number.
That’s true across the U.S. Skoge, in this case, though, I’m simply a large vehicle making a left turn with a crosswalk in front of me. Vehicles behind me don’t know that, especially if they’re tourists or idiots.
I would have loved to have gotten a plate, but the vehicle flew by me in excess of the speed limit. My heart is heavy as I dwell on the possible outcome…
btw: When I pull into the Barrels and Bins parking lot at 15:20 I make a large sweeping left turn and block the entire parking lot. When I open my door, up to sixteen precious cargo come rushing off my bus in opposite directions. When everything is cool I unblock the area and move down below to unload the rest at the Community Center back door.
I am totally paranoid about vehicles rushing around me and I will protect my kids at all cost!
PEOPLE DRIVE LIKE IDIOTS OUT THERE.
YES!