Why my kid does not, and will never, ride the school bus

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Sadly, this is pretty typical.

Here's what I saw yesterday. School bus tailgating a moped with two people on it. The moped was going thirty five or so, which was the limit. School bus passes ON SOLID YELLOW.

I didn't get the number off the bus because there was an SUV behind it...tailgating it.



I did call the Richland One bus people land told where it happened and what time. About the best I could do. I really feel kind of bad I didn't follow it where it went and get better info on it.

Shitfire. I need a damn drink. Like I said, this is not terribly unusual behavior for a school bus. Or for anyone else. I posted on here some time ago a letter I wrote to the police department here because I saw a COP tailgating a school bus for a mile or so. I myself have been dangerously tailgated by a loaded school bus.

It's unbelievable. Who are these people?

[Beki710]

I understand where your coming from. I understand the bus driver is probably under a fair bit of stress with a bus full of noisy kids but that is no reason to be endangering their lives or anyone elses. That kind of accident at their age could really mess them up.
In a slightly related note my sister sent me this link the other day - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-15016390 - that was the same bus she got to college before she went to university. Scary thought.

[SpaceCore]

I've seen plenty of texting and driving with schoolbus drivers.
And just today I saw one going the wrong way on a one-way road.
Which was the school's main road/entrance.
While kids were being dropped off by their parents.

I think the best thing ever was my Jr. High bus which had an assistant on board. The kids could pick on him so the driver could pay attention to the road.

[MadMike]

We had some pretty horrible bus drivers when I was in school. My brother had one that was drunk. He said you could smell it on him as soon as you stepped onto the bus.

I had this one that was a really nice old man, but he should have retired years ago. Every so often, he'd drift over onto the left side of the road. Usually some smart-ass would loudly ask, "Are we in England?" and the driver would quickly pull it back into the right lane. The final straw came one morning when the bus never showed up. My mom ended up driving me to school, and on the way there, we saw my bus wedged up against a tree along the left side of the road.

They replaced him with a guy who was missing a hand. He had a hook in place of the missing hand, and a knob on the steering wheel that allowed him to grab it with his hook. Surprisingly, he was one of the best bus drivers I ever had.

[Food Lady]

*grabs a blanket and hot chocolate and sits down in front of the fire* Tell us some more stories, Uncle Mike.

[LillFilly]

I was one of the first stops, but sometimes the bus would blow right by, or come 10 min before the time, or be so late I'd thought I'd missed it and had started home when it would go by. There was a bitchy temporary bus driver on my route too, that never remembered to let me off at my stop. We were coming to my stop once and I stood-up and moved to the front. The driver shouted at me to sit down. I tried telling her it was my stop, but she yelled at me to sit again. I had to go to the next stop with some other kids and walk back. We finally just axed the whole bus riding thing and my parents drove me.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Judging by the way the local municipal bus drivers drive, I'm starting to wonder if there's some genetic requirement for bus drivers to be crazier than a bedbug or something.

[Salted Grump]

Reminds me of an old joke.

A building was being put up in downtown, and onlookers were, as usual, keeping an eye on the construction workers, due to curiosity, fascination, or what-have you.

One worker, however, stood out, as, even on the thirtieth floor, barely visible, he could be seen without a helmet or safety gear, calmly riveting and welding the I-beams and crossmembers into place, ignoring swinging metal plates and more.

Finally, one onlooker walked over to one of the workers on the ground level, and asked about the steelworker far above. After a moment, the worker nodded. "Oh, that's old Jim. He took this job to get into something relaxing."

The onlooker, rather confused, looked up at the height of the building. "Relaxing? What was he doing before?"

"School Bus Driver."

[Seshat]

They replaced him with a guy who was missing a hand. He had a hook in place of the missing hand, and a knob on the steering wheel that allowed him to grab it with his hook. Surprisingly, he was one of the best bus drivers I ever had.

With the proper training and equipment, amputees or people with paralysis of certain limbs can drive just fine. My father used to work with an occupational therapist and a modified car, teaching these people how to drive with the modifications.

[bhskittykatt]

Yikes!

Our school bus driver had several accidents on his record. He never drove recklessly, though. One accident he rolled into the bus that was parked in front of us after we'd stopped in front of the school (forgot the parking brake), and all the others were single-bus accidents where he tried to do a maneuver that didn't pan out.

Judging by the way the local municipal bus drivers drive, I'm starting to wonder if there's some genetic requirement for bus drivers to be crazier than a bedbug or something.

Riding our city buses in the snow can be a...special experience. They're normally sane, but when they're going up and down the hill to the University...it gets interesting and a bit insane. As in, sliding down the hill at a bit of an angle, and the bus driver doesn't even bat an eye, like it's the most normal way to drive a bus in the world...

[laborcat]

With the proper training and equipment, amputees or people with paralysis of certain limbs can drive just fine. My father used to work with an occupational therapist and a modified car, teaching these people how to drive with the modifications.

LOL my dad lost his left arm in an attempt to stop the cancer in his shoulder... he put knobs on all the steering wheels he used (two tractors and his pickup) and just kept on like nothing ever happened. Only thing he couldn't drive was the motorcycle.

What sucked was his prosthetic arm was delivered to the house two days after the funeral when he finally lost the battle.

[Ginger G]

Richland One? I think we live in the same area! We have the worst drivers here, both schoolbus and otherwise.

[drunkenwildmage]

With the proper training and equipment, amputees or people with paralysis of certain limbs can drive just fine. My father used to work with an occupational therapist and a modified car, teaching these people how to drive with the modifications.

We have a Chrysler mini van for my wife that has hand controls on it, and with the drivers seat out.. She just rolls up the drivers seat, and drives off. If Need to drive it, I can put the seat in, and use it.. The pedals still work.

[drunkenwildmage]

When I was in High School, one of my bus drivers was a Figure 8/ Sportsman Driver at the local race track. That's how they would announce him at the races, as the "School Bus Driver". The car he drove was a "School"yellow/orangeuish color.


For some odd reason, we were always the first students to get to school.



On a side note.. you could've always have one of these guys drive you to school.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9zMopkXt90

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Richland One? I think we live in the same area! We have the worst drivers here, both schoolbus and otherwise.

Holy smoke, South Carolina? I dont' live in that district anymore, I live across town now (although the bus drivers aren't any better. From what I've seen, they might be even worse.). But I'm over in the old neighborhood A LOT.