Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

[ZmOz]

I live about a half a block from an elementry school. This school was poorly placed at the end of a large subdivision, on a lot that's too small squeezed between a cemetary and other houses. The school was there last and should never have been allowed.<br /><br />The only roads that lead up to this school are very narrow residential streets. Only 2 of them. These are also the only two streets that lead to my house. <br /><br />Today, it took me a (edit)half hour to get less than a quarter mile to my house because it was 2:00 and there were about 42,000 women alone in a suburban lined up on the street so their kid doesn't have to walk 1/2 mile home. <br /><br />While all this is going on, the school busses are making their way to the school. To do this, first they cross the double yellow line, into oncoming traffic, which of course has to stop for them, and then the crossing guard who's there for the children stops traffic the other way for the busses.<br /><br />This is COMPLETE (edit) and I will not put up with it anymore! The school district is 100% at fault here for not providing enough parking, and locating the school in a place with basically no access.<br /><br />As far as I know, all traffic laws apply to busses as well, do they not? The exact same thing happens every single day, TWICE. Can I call the police? Are they going to ticket the busses driving in the wrong lane? I know that's what would happen to me. Should I take pics and send them to the local newspapers? Can I file a lawsuit agsinst the school? Can I file a lawsuit agsint the police if they don't do anything about it? Can I hire 40 cab drivers to block traffic from 1:30 - 3:00 every day until I've made my point?<br /><br />Whatever the cost...they've been a pain (edit) for years, now it's time for me to be a pain in theirs. I have a feeling I'm going to end up on the news...

 

[snapperbait]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

Can I call the police?

Yes!... But the Police will probably come out and direct traffic, thus taking you an hour (or more) to get home, rather than the half hour it takes now......<br /><br />

Are they going to ticket the busses driving in the wrong lane?

Probably not...<br /><br />

Should I take pics and send them to the local newspapers? Can I file a lawsuit agsinst the school? Can I file a lawsuit agsint the police if they don't do anything about it? Can I hire 40 cab drivers to block traffic from 1:30 - 3:00 every day until I've made my point?<br />

Yes... Yes... Yes... HELL YES (#4.. that's what I'd do)...

 

[QC]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

I think you are correct, but your beef is with the School District. You should consider attending the next school board meeting. Find out how you get on the agenda. Get pictures, maybe a nice PowerPoint presentation etc. Stay calm and describe the air quality and congestion issues from a rational point of view. Find a way to help not hinder . . . Boring, but the right way to be a member of your little town

 

[CJY]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

Anger and rage is always the correct emotion when dealing with elementary age children, their school, or their parents. <br /><br />Personally, I feel your point would be better left unmade at least until you calm down a bit.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

"Z", Smoke a bowl & highjack some buses on your video game.... Repeat as necessary.... Hope this helps... ......JK

 

[TexomaAv8r]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

42000 women in a Suburban? cool

 

[Pony]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

The school buses or things of that size are too hard to drive in GTA games...........<br /><br /><br />No matter what action you take ZmOz, are there any alternatives or solutions that you can see?

 

[Baldguy]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

Having driven a school bus for a living many moons ago I can tell you that crossing the double yellow is defintely going to get you a ticket as a bus driver. They will pull you over.<br /><br />Sounds like the school should get a plan together for traffic AND the police should be out there moving traffic and not allowing parents picking up their kids to block the road.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

I just had to try my new name out.

 

[heycods]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

Try selling your house and moving. It will bring a mint its close to a school. Relocate closer to the lake, maby a house with a boat-dock. have a goodun lwr

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

Originally posted by snapperbait:<br />Yes!... But the Police will probably come out and direct traffic, thus taking you an hour (or more) to get home, rather than the half hour it takes now......<br />

Well, if I start calling the police twice a day they're probably going to get (edit) pretty quick and find their own solution. My guess is that they'll ignore me completely and I'll have to take further action. It's not so much the waiting in traffic that annoys me...it's the fact that the school seems to think it is above the law. There's no reason the busses shouldn't have to sit in traffic just like me.<br /><br />

Originally posted by CJY:<br /> Anger and rage is always the correct emotion when dealing with elementary age children, their school, or their parents. <br /><br />Personally, I feel your point would be better left unmade at least until you calm down a bit.

I can assure you, if you lived here, you'd be just as pissed as I am. All of my neighbors feel the same way. You think it's perfectly ok for bus drivers and other school employees to blatantly break the law? I know if I had a child that went to that school, and I watched the people who drive the children around breaking laws, I'd be even more pissed. <br /><br /><br />

Originally posted by Baldguy:<br />Sounds like the school should get a plan together for traffic AND the police should be out there moving traffic and not allowing parents picking up their kids to block the road.

My point exactly. That's the problem, they never made a plan. If Walmart wanted to open a store there, wouldn't they have to spend TONS of money researching exactly how much traffic would come, and then pay to make the roads appropriate for such traffic? Why isn't the school held to this same standard?<br /><br />The problem is the parking lot is just big enough for the school's staff to park in. There is NO place for the parents. There is a pick up area large enough for 4 suburbans. When that fills up, all the others line up right behind, in the street, completely blocking it. If you want to go to Wendy's, and the drive through is full, are you allowed to stop in the street and block traffic until there's room for you? I think not.<br /><br />Let's also not forget that every time there's a sporting event, teacher conference, etc, the thousand or so cars that show up have no choice but to park in the already full residential streets. At least 3-4 times every school year I have to yell at someone who blocks my driveway or parks in front of the mailbox that says clearly not to park there.<br /><br />I have called the principal of the school twice and left a message in the past, she never bothered to call back. I'll be out there tomarrow morning with a video camera. If the police don't do anything about it I think my 18' long truck might have an unfortuneate breakdown in the street at an inopportune moment. If they want to give me a ticket they have to give one to everyone else. <br /><br />(BTW - there's a cop that lives right next to the school and another one right across the street. I'm sure they both see this go on every day and don't do a damn thing about it)

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

Where were you when they presented the plans to build the school? Assuming you lived there when they built it. If not you should have known that buying a house on the same street as a school would bring bus's and traffic to your street, along with a certain amount of congestion. Should have done your homework. <br /><br />Go to the school board meeting, make sure you have cold hard facts about the so called problem, Bring along some neighbors that have the same gripe. Presenting it as a safety problem will usually get results.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

Originally posted by Flahthead:<br /> Where were you when they presented the plans to build the school?

I gave them the benefit of the doubt that they would actually do their homework. Apparently they didn't do any homework at all. Any reasonable person in the world would look at what's going on here and say something needs to be done.<br /><br />Ironically, at my last house an elementry school was also built behind me AFTER I moved in. The school was less than helpful in dealing with the vandalism of my property by students during school hours....until I brought them the tapes and threatened to go to the news. This school; however, did do their homework, and creates no traffic problems. I had no reason to believe the same wouldn't be true for the new school.<br /><br />The same is true for the 5 other schools in the area - all have appropriately sized roads, traffic signals, crossing guards, parking, etc.<br /><br />The capacity of the school was also increased from the original proposal this summer, by adding 6 trailers to use as classrooms - adds a real touch of class to the neighborhood as well.

 

[deputydawg]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

I see a few things here. 1 from what I hear it is not the school busses, it is the parents illegal parking and blocking traffic. In most states it is not illegal to cross the double yellow to go around an obstruction. Double yellow only means no passing.<br />You would have a better complaint if you complained about the parents obstructing the road and illegal parking. <br /><br />Get on the agenda for the school board. Don't complain about YOUR situation, complain about it being unsafe for the children you will get more action.<br />If this does not help go to the city council and complain. Make a very educated complaint.<br /><br />If that don't help, get a petition going. Enough people signing it the city may decide to spend the money to widen the road and make a parking loading zone.<br /><br />As for the cops that live on the street not doing anything, don't expect them to. That is their home not their office. <br /><br />Complain until something gets done, but complain in a well informed adult manner, and make it sound like your worried about the poor children walkin through the maze of traffic and as a second though add that it is inconveeinant for you.<br /><br />Sounds like some very poorplanning from both the engineers that designed the school and the city.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

Originally posted by deputydawg:<br /> I see a few things here. 1 from what I hear it is not the school busses, it is the parents illegal parking and blocking traffic. In most states it is not illegal to cross the double yellow to go around an obstruction.

It is when there is other traffic coming. You're right, the parents parking on the road are the root of the problem...but the busses only make it worse by further stopping traffic.<br /><br />Plus I don't think it's legal for the crossing guard to stop traffic specifically so the busses don't have to wait...am I correct?

 

[Reel Poor]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

Back out of your driveway one day in front of one of those buses using the wrong lane. If they hit you, I think you could get the problem resolved very quickly. If they dont hit you, sit there until the cops get there, or the bus/buses back out of your way.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

For god sake JB...now asterisks are against the rules?

 

[CJY]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

Zm,<br /><br />What did I say that sounded so much different from the other posts? I said calm down and take another approach, much like the other posts. I don't think you took offense to what I said. rather, it was more likely do to the fact we have been on opposite sides of the fence in the past. Well, we are once again.<br /><br /> You may be correct that I would become, in your words, "pissed," but I would not allow that anger to become actions that may lead to bad consequences. You have stated many possible actions, many of which will not fix the problem, only add to it. Afterall, you stated you had the feeling that you may end up in the news.<br /><br />If the only alternative to the problem is widening the roads, and you live on that road, you will give up part of your property whether you like it or not. If the city chooses to widen them due to your complaints, will you still complain about your lot size being reduced by 15-20 feet even though traffic will flow freely?<br /><br />Traffic is typically not an issue taken on by a school. It may be considered, but in the end, simply stated, it is not their responsibility to ensure for proper traffic flow. That is the duty of the city planning/engineers department. Had you attended the planning meetings, you may have discovered that the very neighbors complaining also did not voice a concern. Schools, in most cases listen to citizen concerns, afterall, they vote for or against levies. The last thing any district wants to do is tick off their potential supporters. The only way a school is aware of concern is if they are voiced. That may or may not have happened before construction. We do not know because you chose not to attend. Well, the school has been built, and now you are concerned. What is it you would like the school to do now? If school transportation is doing something unlawful, that can be taken care of easily. Placing a bus in stopped traffic does not sound as though it would help the problem though. <br /><br />You also stated that the school is 100% at fault. BS, you dropped the ball by not attending planning meetings where you could have presented information, possibly altering the plans of the school prior to construction. That did not happen! So complain, take action, whatever you feel is needed, but if I were a BOE member, my first question after hearing your complaint would be; where were you when the planning was taking place?

 

[deputydawg]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

I see, no they cannot enter the opposing lane when traffic is coming. It would also be illegal for the crossing guard to stop traffic for the busses. The crossing guard would say they saw the bus, saw the car, saw that the two can't see each other so they stopped traffic as a warning. Every day. Twice a day. <br /><br />Complain but not at street level. Go to the school board and expect to be put off. They will say it is the cities problem since it is their street. Complain to the city, they will say it is the schools problem since they have no obligation to give the busses places to stop.<br /><br /> The police will say who do we stop first? They will go start moving or ticketing the <br />soccer moms, but then the soccer moms will go home and complain to their husbands who will in turn go home and tell their husbands how mean and arrogant the local cop was by telling them it was illegal to pick up their child from school. That husband will then post a message on a web bulletin board on how rotten the cops are, and maybe even go to the supervisor. The supervisor will call the cop in and ask why he was rude to the moms. The cop will show his video saying he was not rude but was moving someone illegally parked. The supervisor will say good job officer but from now on sice everyone is complaining no matter what we do you will patrol the other end of town during the mom's pickup times, the same goes for all officers. The local moms will then start cackling about how they got the cop fired, they will start double parking and making more of a fuss when picking up kids. About that time an officer will accidentally be in the area agin and try to make the moms move, they will all revolt and attack because they have been doing this forever and it is fine to be stopped there as long as they are picking up or dropping off because it is the law and besides there is no sign telling them no parking. <br /><br />OK, back to the topic. Definately complain to the higher ups. Keep complaining but be constructive and don't allow them to see any anger or frusteration. If they do you will be labled a trouble making hot head, and you will not be heard. Get signatures on a petition from people living in the neighborhood. ALSO get signatures from the parents picking up kids. They would probably love to have a lane to pick up and drop off.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Since when are school busses allowed to break the law?

CJY, widening the road is not an option. To do that they would need to tear down at least $10 million worth of brand new houses. At the time this school was built, these houses were an overgrown orchard, and the road could have easily and cheaply been widened.<br /><br />Again, my problem is not the traffic. There is nothing that can be done about that. It is the fact that the school ignores the laws, and gave the parents no choice but to do the same. Nobody should have to go to any meetings to ensure that does not happen in their neighborhood, because there are already laws to prevent this sort of thing. And, as I said above, the capacity of the school has been expanded significantly since it was built, and so has the traffic. The original proposal was adequate - nobody complained because they didn't specify that they would be breaking the law daily.<br /><br />I fully expect all school, city, and police officials to completely ignore me. This is why I'm taking pictures, and will likely take them to the news and protest by parking in their way. If it takes me causing a scene in the street with news cameras all over to stop this then that is what will happen.