School is back in session and school buses are back on our roadways, transporting students to and from schools throughout our communities. For early morning and afternoon commuters, using the streets with these buses may mean having to take one or several brief stops on the way to the office, but the fact is many drivers aren’t stopping.
On Friday, while a school bus stopped on East Ibberson Drive to pick up a 10-year-old special education student, a driver did not stop, but continued to drive through the scene against the red flashing lights and prominently displayed red stop paddle. East Ibberson is a narrow street able to accommodate one car at a time, where drivers regularly pull to the side to yield to those traveling in the opposite direction. A school bus takes up the entire road, as the bus did, on Friday.
The driver of the car not only had to meet the bus front to front (an obvious indication she had to have seen the stopped bus and knew what was expected) but within the cramped road space, had to maneuver her car around the metal bar, under the stop paddle and squeeze between the telephone pole and the school bus, all of this amidst the blaring noise of the bus horn being applied as an alert. Still the driver did not stop.
The rules of the road listed in the Washington driver’s handbook aren’t suggestions. They’re laws set forth to protect us, as drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and most importantly during the school year, our students. Please use common sense. Obey our traffic laws and protect our children.
Arley Fosburgh
Everett
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