Semi crashes into back of School Bus

Some of these bus stops on back roads need to be put back on the table and reevaluated now that more traffic and especially big truck traffic use the roads.

 

Wrong thread lol

 

The thing about school busses is that They MUST stop close to the students house. In my home state its is illegal to drop the student off or pick them up more than 300 feet from thier house, unless it is a communal stop (example: one stop where the entire trailer park catches the bus).

I recently had a bit of a battle with my local school bus... The approved official bus stop is directly in front of my house on a small country road. But a few days a week it was stopping about 250 feet away on the state highway that my road intersects and letting my daughter off there. I was furious aftet talking to both the bussing manager and the super intendent, who told me they believed it was perfectly ok that this practice continue.

What they didnt know is that my sister in law is a manager at another school bussing company and knows the laws very well. After speaking with her, I wrote a very professional letter that sited chapter and verse several state laws and regulations pertaining to school busses and how and where they can stop... As well as how to change or move those stops.

It was about 1.5 typed pages long and really smacked of someone who knew exactly what they were talking about, because I did... I had done quite a bit of research. So I send this letter off via email to the super intendent of the school district. Low and behold, from that very day forward the bus has stopped out front of my house every morning and afternoon that there is school. And both the super intendent and the bussing manager called and apologized to my wife and I.

The reason they had been stopping at a different location a few days a week??? Some student didnt ride the bus those days, and therefore the bus driver didnt want to drive down my road... Because staying on the highway was 5 mins faster.

 

Those people suffer from the same thing this industry does. I’m going to go out on a limb and say if the guy planning the routes was a guy that drove a bus for 40 years that stop wouldn’t have been where you found it. If they had experienced drivers that stop would be somewhere else on day 2 because they wouldn’t stop their bus there again. Trucking companies didn’t all used to be rolling #### shows either. But you had some crusty old #### with over 40yrs on the road in the safety office doing the hiring, one that drove for 30 or so dispatching them, and if they were green, for orientation you sent them out into yard full of experienced drivers that rode herd on them and brought them along until they either made Truck Drivers out of them or ran them off. It doesn’t happen that way anymore, and look at the highways.

 

Problem solved

 

That would certainly help but the stops should be set in the safest places possible instead of convenience. I also believe the bus drivers should be better trained of when to throw out the sign as well.

 

Here in Canada they throw the yellow lights well before they throw the red lights.. my brother in law his father drives school bus and was saying COVID really hurt the driver pool so you’re probably correct on drivers needing additional training in some cases.

 

I usually see "BUS STOP AHEAD" or even "BUS TURNAROUND AHEAD" here in FL panhandle. When I see one of these signs I check the time to see if its school bus time. I've had many buses hold off putting on the red lights when they see me coming towards them even tho I have time to stop & do stop. When I'm behind a school bus I keep plenty of distance & usually the sb driver gives plenty of notice & puts on yellow lights way ahead of the actual stop. The gist is give school buses extra extra room.

Same deal here in the states, severe shortage of drivers even b4 COVID here.
The pay is awful & look how some kids act up, I couldnt do it. There were students getting to school late & some drivers running 2 routes.

 

That's the way it should work. Problem is, it doesn't always go that way. They would never put enough signs up for every single house they stop at. Nor could they take them all down when they longer stop there.

It seems around my area, these kids are getting concierge door to door service even when they live on busy state highways. There used to be a time when kids were picked and dropped at a single point on a less traveled residential side street with signs marking the location for all traffic to see and speeds of 25mph instead of what we have today.