The (ir)rational hatred of school busses

[1995hoo]

Amtrak checks IDs when you check in for the Auto Train, although it's fair to recognize the process is a little different from many other Amtrak trains because you must go to the counter to check in for that service due in part to the need to make a dinner reservation.

I find it interesting how many Americans think a driver's license is the only acceptable ID. I carry a passport card because the design of my wallet obscures part of my driver's license and I dislike pulling it out of the leather case every time. One old lady at the polls tried to refuse it once because it didn't have my address on it, never mind that state law requires her to accept it (she backed down pretty quickly when I told her I'd report her to the State Board of Elections). The people at the prescription counter at the grocery store argued too.

[Bruce]

Dumping two dashcam videos showing how stupid drivers are around school buses, from BC to Ohio:

Drivers who do this kind of move should have their privilege (not right) to drive revoked permanently, in my opinion.

[UCFKnights]

Dumping two dashcam videos showing how stupid drivers are around school buses, from BC to Ohio:

I firmly believe this occurs as frequently as it does because of the excessive use and stops of the signals when they're entirely unnecessary, much like the story of the communities I've lived in, where they won't pull in and unload an entire bus on an arterial road without anyone crossing the street... for elementry, middle, and high school. Its just like overuse of all of our other traffic control devices like stop signs instead of yield... when you put stops where there should be yields, we get used to rolling stops and otherwise yielding and ignoring the sign so the sign has no meaning when it is important. If we want this to stop happening, the stop signals on the buses really need to stop being extended when children are not crossing the street, so that way people do respect that they mean something when they are extended.

[Bruce]

Without signals, no one would even stop for the kids.

I know this from experience, using unmarked crossings (but with clear curb cuts and sightlines, along with me staring at cars with my body language screaming my intent to cross) and having to wait for a kind soul to follow the law of the road. With a signal there, they wouldn't even dare run that crosswalk.

I think we should equip buses with long gates (similar to those at rail crossings) to create a physical barrier to lawbreaking drivers.

[jeffandnicole]

Drivers who do this kind of move should have their privilege (not right) to drive revoked permanently, in my opinion.

Wow!  The cop didn't even have a moment to run the license plate, he got out so quick from that car.  I would love to know the tickets handed out in that one, and or the license suspension given!

I'm not usually on roads when school buses are picking up or discharging kids so I don't know how bad the problem generally is.  I did witness someone not stopping for a bus once though. I would guess (hope) that the bus driver's personal instances in the 1st video were spread out over a long period of time, but made to look quite frequent in the news report.

In the one shot where the car goes between the driver's open door and the kids, I think I've seen that one before.  I wondered why the bus wasn't closer to the kids to begin with, unless the driver just went around on a shoulder area.

[1995hoo]

I remember the sidewalk-driver being all over the news. It was in Cleveland. She did that regularly and the school bus driver contacted the police for help. The judge made her stand outside during rush hour wearing a sign saying what she had done and what an idiot she was. Her license was also suspended for 30 days and she paid $250 in court costs.

[RobbieL2415]

I remember the sidewalk-driver being all over the news. It was in Cleveland. She did that regularly and the school bus driver contacted the police for help. The judge made her stand outside during rush hour wearing a sign saying what she had done and what an idiot she was. Her license was also suspended for 30 days and she paid $250 in court costs.

I wish more judges used public humiliation as a form of punishment.

[jakeroot]

I remember the sidewalk-driver being all over the news. It was in Cleveland. She did that regularly and the school bus driver contacted the police for help. The judge made her stand outside during rush hour wearing a sign saying what she had done and what an idiot she was. Her license was also suspended for 30 days and she paid $250 in court costs.

I wish more judges used public humiliation as a form of punishment.

Seems rather barbaric to me, but if it's effective, I can't not support it.

[vdeane]

Technically that punishment probably violates the first amendment (due to the sign wearing).

[kkt]

30 days??  Should have been years.

[1995hoo]

Technically that punishment probably violates the first amendment (due to the sign wearing).

It's quite possible he gave her a choice between that and something else, in which case there'd be no issue. I don't recall whether there were any reports about that.

[bmorrill]

I remember the sidewalk-driver being all over the news. It was in Cleveland. She did that regularly and the school bus driver contacted the police for help. The judge made her stand outside during rush hour wearing a sign saying what she had done and what an idiot she was. Her license was also suspended for 30 days and she paid $250 in court costs.

Similar to this - I remember several years ago when my wife and I were on our way up to Illinois, we were going through the courthouse square in Anson, Texas (yeah, "no dancin' Anson" of Footloose fame) and we saw a young lady walking around wearing a sandwichboard saying something along the lines of "minor caught in possession of alcohol."

[english si]

Technically that punishment probably violates the first amendment (due to the sign wearing).

It's quite possible he gave her a choice between that and something else, in which case there'd be no issue.

Would 'they chose that' be a way around the 8th amendment issues that might come up from sentences of public humiliation?

[1995hoo]

Technically that punishment probably violates the first amendment (due to the sign wearing).

It's quite possible he gave her a choice between that and something else, in which case there'd be no issue.

Would 'they chose that' be a way around the 8th amendment issues that might come up from sentences of public humiliation?

Totally a guess, but it might depend on what the other option is, how "reasonable" an alternative it is.

[hm insulators]

I remember the sidewalk-driver being all over the news. It was in Cleveland. She did that regularly and the school bus driver contacted the police for help. The judge made her stand outside during rush hour wearing a sign saying what she had done and what an idiot she was. Her license was also suspended for 30 days and she paid $250 in court costs.

I wonder if the sidewalk driver had that bumper sticker on her car that reads IF YOU DON'T LIKE HOW I DRIVE, STAY OFF THE SIDEWALK!