“Crystal’s Soapbox,” published each Thursday, is a column by conservative Texas mom Crystal Arcand who loves to rant about issues that relate to her kids….and yours.
As I’ve mentioned in my Twitter stream since the beginning of the school year, I hate school buses. The bus drivers in our school district drive like they own the road and everyone should get out of their way before they get run over. Seeing the news, apparently this attitude is common to quite a portion of bus drivers, whether it’s a school bus or public transit. I fail to understand why being a bus driver means you have free rein to be a jerk.
I have seen grown men and women in very large, very heavy vehicles full of children cut people off, lay on their horns, run stop signs, and block traffic arbitrarily. Most recently, I watched as the driver of a bus full of children pushed through school traffic, forcing cars that were in line to pick up their kids to scramble to the curb to keep from being hit. These aren’t kids learning how to drive. These aren’t centenarians who should have stopped driving a couple of decades ago. These are adults who have plenty of driving practice and must be trained and licensed to drive large vehicles. Why? Because those suckers are dangerous and can cause a lot of damage! There are no seat belts for the passengers, not to mention the people around the bus – dozens of people could be hurt or even killed by one act of driving arrogance, like cutting people off or texting snide comments about passengers to Facebook.
Besides the obvious danger (and most likely illegality) of these behaviors, do these people not realize that children are watching them and learning from them? The youngest are learning to be thoughtless and inconsiderate of others, while the older students are learning how to be the worst of drivers. What I find even more disturbing is that when these issues are mentioned, other parents just sigh and say, “What are you going to do? They’re bigger than you.”
Hello??? Can we say bullying?
Parents – stand up to bullies – whether they are in the school or in the school bus driver’s seat! And if you know of a great bus driver, please tell us about it and restore some of our faith in those that care for our children!
Comments
Anita Nestor
December 22nd, 2009 - 8:00:33 PM
I have been a bus driver for 12 years. DO NOT JUDGE ALL BUS DRIVERS BY THE ACTIONS OF A FEW!!! Since becoming a bus driver, I have noticed many things that other drivers do to busses. I have had numerious cars run through my stop arm while I was unloading students. I have even had a police car run my stop arm and almost hit a student. No, he did not have his light or siren on. Cars have passed me both on the left and on the right shoulder while I was unloading. It is a constant issue of cars cutting busses off because noone wants to be behind a bus. I have had people cut me off and slam on their breaks because they thought it was fun. As for the students, I have been pushed, hit, spit on, had things thrown at me and been called every name in the book. All while trying to drive. I'll admit that 90% of the students are good kids. But, the other 10% make driving bus a VERY difficult job. The only thing worse than the BAD kids, are the parents who swear their kid would NEVER do something like that. Even when shown the tape from the camera, they swear their kid is an angel!! Don't forget the parents who can't get their kids to the bus stop on time. And then get mad because the bus didn't hold up traffic for 10 minutes waiting on them. I could go on and on. but, for now, I will end my tirade. Please remember NOT to judge all Bus drivers by the actions of a few. I don't judge you by the actions of the drivers and parents I have had to deal with.
Crystal Arcand (3Stairs)
December 22nd, 2009 - 8:43:58 PM
Thanks, Anita, for being one of the good ones! I definitely think a lot of bus drivers get the raw end of the deal from kids that aren't taught to respect their elders.
gail
January 12th, 2010 - 6:37:09 AM
crystal please e mail my son is going threw a big mess with a bus driver as we speak i had to have him stay at family house so he can walk to school until i can get a meeting ty gail