Spittin' Steam

I am so mad that if I were to spit, it would probably come out as steam!

Today, you saw my school bus coming down the road as you neared the stop sign on your side of the intersection. Instead of stopping, you floored it, ran the stop sign, and jumped in front of the bus. You didn't care that I was doing the legal speed limit nor that I had a bus full of elementary school aged children. You gave me almost no time to react. I locked the air brakes on the bus and just avoided creaming the rear of your car. You didn't even glance back. I threw kids onto the floor, into the back of seats, and into each other. Physically, there were only bumps and bruises; no serious injuries this time. I had a bus full of terrified, crying children. I didn't have time to even get your license number and, you probably knew, no one would do anything to you anyway. Little did you care about more serious consequences like broken bones, including skulls, necks and spines. You were just glad that you weren't held up by another "damn" school bus.

This scenario didn't happen as described. Not because you didn't do just exactly as described, but because I anticipated that you would. I did end up with some upset children and it wouldn't surprise me to hear from some parents. In fact, I hope that I do!

I anticipated your stupid move because of expert training by my bus driver instructor. She had a mantra that she taught us: "Anticipate. Anticipate. Anticipate!" What she didn't say and what I've learned for myself is to anticipate idiots, fools, and those whose life is so wrapped up in "self" that other drivers or pedestrians make no difference to them.

Idiots are those who think that a 15-ton school bus can stop in the same amount of time and distance that it takes a compact car to make the same stop. They either don't consider or don't care that it is not possible to stop an ocean liner in the same distance that a speed boat can be stopped. Often times, I am driving my bus at the posted speed limit, but that just isn't enough for many drivers. Speed limits aren't really laws anyway, are they? They aren't like, "Thou shalt not steal." Aren't they actually just parameters showing us how fast we can drive without much chance of getting a speeding ticket? Everyone else speeds, so if a school bus can only do the speed limit, why shouldn't you be in front of it?

Fools are those who either can't tell time or have no self discipline. Every single school day, school buses drive exactly the same route at almost the exact same time. It shouldn't be rocket science to figure out that leaving home a few minutes earlier or later or taking an alternate route might help the problem of being caught in school bus traffic. Yet, as it happens, every single school day, I get to see the same drivers in the same cars jump through stop lights and stop signs at the same intersections trying to get in front of the same school buses. Fools must truly be those who do the same thing time after time and yet expect a different outcome each time.

I probably have the least patience with those of you totally wrapped up in "self". School buses are required to drive very slowly in bus parking lots and student pick-up zones. The reason for that should be obvious. I see you every day drive past a sign that clearly says "School Buses Only" because you cannot or will not wait in the long line that other parents are in waiting to drop off their children. You drive much faster than any bus is allowed. You are on your cell phone. You are putting on your makeup or eating your breakfast. At least one of you has a pet in arms. How absolutely uncaring can you be! School buses turn on flashing amber lights before turning on stop lights to pick up children. If you see the amber lights, your thought process seems to be, "If I hurry up, I can get past the bus before the red stop lights come on." Some of you make it and some just go on through the red lights, just like you do at intersections. What you fail to consider, since it is only you that you are thinking about, is that a child might be running a bit late and, seeing the amber bus lights, might hurry across the road without waiting for the red lights as well. You believe that you might win the lottery, but you don't for a minute think that you might kill a child!

I could spit steam out of the sheer frustration of failing to get you to see the ultimate cost of your poor decisions. I will promise you this... if any of you who read this are guilty of such actions near my bus and I happen to recognize you, the next time we meet, I will be so much in your face that you will think that you've donned a Ross mask. Please, please read this carefully and then read it again. Share it with someone. If, between us, we can keep even one child from being killed or injured, isn't it worth the effort? You and your job just aren't that important. If all else fails, be a little bit late getting to wherever you are going and feel good about doing it safely.