Do you realize?

OMG, as a new bus driver I am being "trained" on all kinds of "weird" things in this certification class I'm in all week. WOW!



Eye-opener!



Did you realize that the #1 hazard at a bus stop is a PARENT?

And that 4500 cars PER DAY run the red flashing school bus lights (in Ohio only!) as kids are getting onto or exiting the bus?

Or that of the 53 school bus fatalities in Ohio over the last 41 years, all but 3 have happened OUTSIDE of the bus?

True story...little boy excited about the upcoming holiday and a sucker he got from his teacher is getting off the bus. The driver, knowing is he excited and young gives him exact instructions on how to cross the road in front of the bus to get to his house (like he does every other day). The instructions go like this--- he's to go 10 steps in front of the bus, wait for the drivers' hand signal, cross half way, check traffic both ways and continue crossing. If at anytime the driver sees danger, he/she will honk the horn and the child is to stop or go back in front of the bus, check traffic again and look to the driver for further instruction. So he is waiting for the ok from the bus driver that it's safe to cross, but then sees his Mom come out of the house and BOLTS across the street without the drivers' ok...right in front of a car doing 55MPH, talking on her cell phone, TOTALLY MISSING the red flashing lights. That little 5 year old is dead. And although the driver of the car is at fault, the school district will also be sued and will owe millions to the parents because the exact directions that the bus driver gave the boy was missing ONE SMALL piece of info...the driver forgot to tell the little boy to recheck traffic if she blows her horn! When the boy bolted, she honked her horn and then that boy stopped without checking traffic...and looked at the bus driver just as he was run over in that other lane. Had he checked traffic he would have seen that car coming and hopefully could have gotten out of the way. Because of this, the defense will use that to win.

I am not paid real well to do this job (unless you consider summers, holidays, weekends etc off!) but I have this intense responsibility aside from just carting kids back and forth. Everything inside and out of that bus is MY responsibility and it's FRIGHTENING how many people don't realize that. Do you?