Last school year my oldest was going to a different school than this year. I would take her to/from school since it is near my office. On the way to school there was a bus stop for another school. This stop was on a major road. The parents had complained to the school board but they would not move the bus stop.
We would often see a car parked on the north side of the road. The bus stop was on the south side and the child would have to cross the road to get on the bus. Long story short she got out of the car one day and ran for the bus and was hit by a car which killed her. Her father got to watch his kid die. His other daughter was in my kids school. Just bad bad bad for a whole bunch of people.
I HOPE he never realizes that all he had to do was park on the SOUTH side of the road and that accident would have been prevented. After his daughter would get on the bus he would turn right, with traffic, and go to work. If he parked on the other side of the road it would take long to get across traffic in the car. I just hope he never realizes how easy it would have been to prevent the accident.
My kid is going to a new school in our county this year. They have a bus that picks up at a shopping center with plenty of space and off the road. The driver is actually a teacher at the school who takes roll call of the students and she won't leave until her departure time. I don't think she will drive off if she still has kids who have not arrived. So far this year she has been early. The point being there is not really a rush to get to the bus because it might leave.
Yesterday the bus was already in the lot waiting. The bus had just arrived and kids were lined up getting onboard. There was a car near the bus letting out kids. I pulled up near the car, my kid got out, and promptly ran right in front of that car. The driver had just emptied his car and was about to pull away. Thankfully he was not in a hurry and saw my kid. My learned lesson was to not park in such a way that she will run in front of cars.
Daughter and I had a chat about this on the drive to the bus stop. She did not realize what she did even after all of the talks about watching what cars are doing. She was just focused on getting on the bus and had blinders on.
Pay attention out there if you have kids getting on buses. Watch them buses if you are driving. You just don't know what the kids will do.
Later,
Dan
M