Pbutting school bus

Graham,

I'm a school bus driver in Pennsylvania, so these rules apply here.

As I approach the stop, between 300 and 600 feet I activate the yellow warning lights. Closer in to the stop I make sure that the children are at a safe position, ie up on the curb, and come to a complete stop. I put the transmission selector in neutral and apply the parking brake. I look to make sure traffic has come to a stop and then press the button (my bus is all air operated) to open the door. Before the mechanism that opens the door operates the red stop lights are turned on, the stop sign on the drivers sign is deployed and the stick at the fron of the bus is extended.

The children are loaded I wait for them to be seated, look for any straglers running for the bus and close the door. The stop sign and stick are retracted and the red light turned off. I look to make sure traffic is clear and pull out.

When unloading, I count the number that got off and make sure all got to their safe locations (again up on the curb) before closing the door.

This is the most vunerable time for a school bus and a good driver is very alert. Kids will be kids and do not always think of safety, they will run out in front of the bus to get home across the street and not even consider traffic. This is when tragities happen. There is a lot going on in a very compressed period of time.

Running a school bus's red lights is a very serious offense in PA, if convicted, your licence is suspended for sixty days, six points on your licence, and over $300 is fines and court costs. I've been through the process. I had a car run my reds. They had been on so long that the kid had departed the bus and was at the curb and I was about to close the door and take off. I got the plate number and caught up to the car at the next light and was next to her. I honked my horn and waved at her, she looked right at me and I was able to make a good ID. When I returned to the bus lot, I filled out a violation form. I had to describe the car (make, model & color), plate #, and write a description of the driver. Describe where it happened and when. I take that to the police that have jurisdiction and turn it in. A police officer with that department looks up info on the plate and makes sure it matches what I describe. He then called the registered owner and asks if they were driver that car at that time at that location. If the officer determines that all the information he has gathered in his investigation is correct, he then issues a citation. In this case the driver challanged the ticket. I court date was set, and I received a subpeona. I had to testify as to what I saw and what actions I took that day. BTW, I don't get paid for appearing in court, I lost money on it.

If the original poster was not there at that time, I'd get professional legal help to defend yourself.

Now to those jaded posters that think this is just a random tax or revenue enhancement. Consider this, we are carrying your children, and we that that responsibility very seriously. That is replected in out accident stats. No matter how you measure it, school buses are the safest means of transportation out there. My district alone logs over 1.2 million pbuttenger miles a year with out a serious accident in the past five years.

In Pennsylvania, state law mandates that local school districts are resposible for transporting ALL students that reside in their district whether the attend public school or not.

Doug