First day of school

In reply to frenchyd :

Man, where were all those inside the bus cameras when I was a kid? Our buses just had fake camera boxes, I know because I tried to get the video used as evidence.

Datsun310Guy said:

I cried when they showed the every day picture of the twin 6-year old boys that got killed with this goof.  

Book ‘em Danno. 

https://www.wthr.com/article/driver-accused-crash-killed-3-children-fulton-county-bus-stop-out-bond

The one that I almost loose my lunch is the rural one.  Where a semi passed the school bus on the right with another passing a moment later  on the left.   The kid saw the semi coming and dove in front of the bus.   Luckily the student crossing the road on the left looked up at the driver for the OK sign  

You can see the flashing red lights and the bus is in the right turn lane almost on the grass Yet a semi is passing on the right( the door side) 

volvoclearinghouse said:

Wally said:

In reply to frenchyd :

I normally hate ticket cameras but I have no sympathy for people passing stopped school buses.  As drivers become more distracted maybe some fines will get them to pay attention. 

Yeah, I feel the same way.  But while speeding and red light cameras have dubious value, this might actually help.  

But there also needs to be a big old sign on the front and back of the bus that says something like "WARNING: BUS EQUIPPED WITH VIDEO CAMERAS.  PASSING A STOPPED BUS WITH LIGHTS FLASHING WILL RESULT IN A $300 FINE"

If you’re not thinking a fifty-foot bright yellow bus with flashing lights and a stop sign deployed is reason enough to stop, a sign saying you’re on camera isn’t going to help. 

In reply to RevRico :

The first bus company I drove for had a 15 year old bus and that had camera’s. I think at least 20 years they’ve been protecting bus companies from law suits. 

In reply to Duke :

Again, y'all are missing the point.  There are people out there who do stuff because they think they might get away with it.  If you know 100% that you are going to get caught, it could be a deterrent.

And, as I said, save a kid's life.  

I have seen places were police cars follow school buses.  It's extreme, but drivers tend to behave.  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

I’ve been de-horsed .  The company only has so many new buses with the camera system on so they are rotating it around all the big bus routes. 

The driver who got it today said the camera went off twice on just his high school route.  He has two elementary school runs yet to do.  

I wound  up with 4 flashes for the day. One during the activity run. 

At this rate, the cameras will have paid for themselves and enough to install on the remaining buses.

In reply to RealMiniNoMore :

Once at a Sleven I noticed a dude pop one of those ranch dressing packets in his pocket.  "Put that back."  He did.  Had a few beers but it was in a tony part of town ( across from the Zoo ) and there's always some type of LEO nearby. 

We don't have cameras, yet. 

Most of my stops are 1.5 lane dirt roads which would make it kind of hard but not impossible for someone to try run through my lights. 

I have three stops on a state highway and two cars ran my lights ( same stop - opposing direction ) this morning.  I could see the driver of the second car holding a cell phone in her hand.   I 've set up my stops so that the state highway are door side pick ups only.  

In reply to FuzzWuzzy :

The Bus company doesn’t get a penny of the money from fines.  We pay extra to have that on our buses because the owners are good people who don’t want their drivers to spend a day in court having to testify. 

They are thinking long term.  Not only do they save having a extra driver or two to cover drivers requested time off. Drivers who do testify don’t earn money that day.  

Our modest income doesn’t leave a lot of room for no pay, so financial stress of doing the right thing might cause a few drivers to quit.  

The owners also bought another 25 non bus buses. Using them they can hire drivers with regular drivers licenses.  

They are white mini buses. ( no stop arms or flashing red lights ) these can carry special needs students without medical issues.  Behavior or intellectual issues typically.   

The idea is  gain drivers and upgrade them to regular short buses ( yellow with stop arms and flashing lights ) and maybe even the big buses. 

68TR250 said:

We don't have cameras, yet. 

Most of my stops are 1.5 lane dirt roads which would make it kind of hard but not impossible for someone to try run through my lights. 

I have three stops on a state highway and two cars ran my lights ( same stop - opposing direction ) this morning.  I could see the driver of the second car holding a cell phone in her hand.   I 've set up my stops so that the state highway are door side pick ups only.  

 

Have you tried stopping diagonally across lanes?   We started doing that last year. The result was dramatically fewer ignored stop arms.  

frenchyd said:

In reply to FuzzWuzzy :

 

 

The owners also bought another 25 non bus buses. Using them they can hire drivers with regular drivers licenses.  

They are white mini buses. ( no stop arms or flashing red lights ) these can carry special needs students without medical issues.  Behavior or intellectual issues typically.   

The idea is  gain drivers and upgrade them to regular short buses ( yellow with stop arms and flashing lights ) and maybe even the big buses. 

 

I have never heard of this kind of bus.  Learned something new today.

ThurdFerguson said:

frenchyd said:

In reply to FuzzWuzzy :

 

 

The owners also bought another 25 non bus buses. Using them they can hire drivers with regular drivers licenses.  

They are white mini buses. ( no stop arms or flashing red lights ) these can carry special needs students without medical issues.  Behavior or intellectual issues typically.   

The idea is  gain drivers and upgrade them to regular short buses ( yellow with stop arms and flashing lights ) and maybe even the big buses. 

 

I have never heard of this kind of bus.  Learned something new today.

 

 

I'm guessing it is a full size van that can seat 14 but doesn't require a CDL.

In reply to mtn :

No they sorta look like a Regular short school bus except not as wide.  ( no duals ) I’ll take a picture when I return for the afternoon. 

Non bus bus 

In reply to frenchyd :

I do block the road the road on the dirt roads because they are narrow enough to 'justify'.  However on the county paved and the state highway that I drive we have been warned that they will cite us for impeding the flow. 

I was a PD officer in another life and wouldn't have cited a bus driver but that was a very long time and in a different era.

In reply to 68TR250 : Yeh right time right place sort of tactic.  Won’t work every place, isn’t safe everyplace.

In reply to frenchyd :

Curious, how long does your run take?  How many miles long is it and how many students do you pick up?

Mine starts at at 615, first p/u is at 630, last p/u is 725.  Finish at 755 - 0800. I travel 48 miles and pick up 38 students in the morning.  I drop off 43 in the afternoon.

In reply to 68TR250 : I leave the house at 5:30 start at 6:18 am, done at 9:36 but I’ve got 4 schools High school, jr High, 2 elementary, the afternoon starts at 2:18 and I’m done sometime after 6:00 ( typically 6:20-6:40 pm  )    Slightly over 100 miles a day on average.  I can carry up to 562 students a day depending on who rides with their parents or friends, ( or drives themselves) 

High school, jr high, elementary, and activity bus  . The later is why end times vary depending on where I go and which students ride. 

I also do any charter I can get.  

In reply to frenchyd :

I can't image that many students.  I do middle and high school.  I didn't want to do the little ones.  I do 96 miles a day. 

I have been doing some sports team trips on Saturdays and I have signed up for class trips.   I don't get back in time to sports trips during the week.  She has me signed up up for several Saturday trips and a few during the week into January.

Keeps me out of trouble with the 250.