Permibus

To stop or not to stop?

That is the oft-asked question we receive in traffic school with regard to driving near school buses.

In an effort to find out whether or not the average driver knows the answer to this query, I decided to conduct a secret investigation. So, on one sunny school day morning, I became the Traffic School Teacher Bus Stalker.

With stealth-like guile I hid my not-so-tiny SUV behind bushes and block walls in an effort to spy on unsuspecting motorists as they drove near the 38 foot long yellow vehicles. What my investigation uncovered was frankly; astonishing.

As I drove around looking for my first observation point, I noticed a group of youngsters congregated that were toting backpacks which appeared to weigh more than half of their natural body weight. Jackpot. It had to be a school bus pick-up site.

In my guise at the Traffic School Teacher Bus Stalker, I the parked my vehicle, put on my sunglasses and pulled down my baseball cap.

I was ready.

From my slouched position, I peeked over the dashboard in time to see the two widespread headlights approach from off in the distance. The children suddenly jumped into a haphazard lined formation. This was it. The bus was coming.

As the bus pulled to the side of the road, the yellow lights high up on its cab began to flash. After the yellow lights stopped flashing and before the red lights started, there appeared to be a brief “grace period” where no lights on the bus were turned on at all. Subjects in two vehicles used these precious ‘reprieve’ seconds to pass cautiously by while they still legally could.

The Traffic School Teacher Bus Stalker was duly impressed.

Now it was time for the first true trial of the day. As the doors on the bus hissed and folded open, the lights on its massive frame began to flash red. Five vehicles came down the road in the subsequent two to three minutes. Three of those vehicles failed to stop.

On the street where I was conducting my clandestine study there was a single broken yellow line in the middle of the road. While the two cars on the same side of the street as the bus stopped when the buses’ lights started blinking red, three vehicles passing on the other side of the road, going in the opposite direction, did not. I would like to be able to give them partial traffic school credit for slowing to a crawl as they crept by on the other side, but no cigar.

Three out of five drivers were perpetrators of an illegal act. Dismayed, I recorded my findings and moved on.

I was certain that the next stop on my stakeout would not present a challenge for the unwary drivers, as there was a clearly marked island in the middle of the street. Since the drivers on the other side of the road did not have to stop now, certainly this scenario would be a no-brainer for those driving in the same direction as the bus. There was one little hitch, though. The street curved out on the right side creating a space where the bus could pull in to pick up the children. This time when the bus driver turned on the flashing red lights, what I witnessed was shocking.

Not one single vehicle traveling on the same side of the street as the bus stopped. In fact, they didn’t even decelerate. Seven drivers whizzed by at the prevailing speed limit; seven drivers that could have been given a citation for this act with fines in excess of $300 in most counties.

I’d like to report that my outlook as the Traffic School Teacher Bus Stalker improved as the morning wore on. I’d be lying. In the end, only fourteen out of the sixty-two vehicles that I observed did not break the law when they drove near the school buses.

Next time you drive near a school bus, please do the right thing. Because it may not be some oddball Traffic School Teacher Bus Stalker Columnist hiding in the bushes observing your every move; the person watching you just might be someone with a little more authority, a nifty, crisp uniform and a handy-dandy citation pad at the ready.