Two Van Vleck school bus drivers came to our house where we publish the Bay City Sentinel with a harrowing tale.
They say that in Van Vleck there are drivers who just blow past the buses when the flashing red lights are blinking and their stop signs are out.
Now for all of us who drive – and I have the passed the half-century mark in that experience realm – it’s long been a hard-wired law not to pass a bus when those red lights are flashing.
That usually means school kids are getting on or off the school bus and traffic is supposed to come to an all-direction halt to ensure the children’s safety.
It shouldn’t be too hard to reason the why for the law.
Just the thought of what could happen to kids who dash off a bus into oncoming traffic is the stuff of nightmares.
Anyway, the drivers told MaLinda, who was the one who talked to them, that cars pass the buses with the red lights activated regularly.
That’s a terrible scenario unfolding out there.
I thought at first this was something that occasionally happens itself unacceptable.
Not so, says the bus drivers, they even have vehicles go onto the shoulders of a road to get around a halted – and lights flashing – bus.
As for law enforcement, that ususally discourages the reckless and potentially dangerous driving.
But law officers can’t be everywhere the buses go.
I’ve checked with Bay City ISD police and they report little problem with drivers ignoring buses stopped with the red lights flashing.
I’m writing this in the hopes people will revisit all they were taught about the stopping for buses stopped to discharge students.
I guess I thought this was one of those laws in life that should always be a slam dunk to obey.
The implications of what could happen should a child be struck by a driver ignoring a bus with flashers is horrible.
According to the bus drivers, that isn’t the case in their district, as in this is an occurrence that happens way too often.
The bus drivers were supposed to appear before school board Monday night to speak during the public comments.
They didn’t, so nothing official will happen because there’s no testimony to structure any solution around.
