Does the framing of a law or regulation that prevents cars from overtaking stationary school buses have its difficulties? Whether the answer is yes or no, there’s no denying that alighting pupils are at their most vulnerable should they chose to cross while their school bus is still parked.
After a year, campaigners in Aberdeenshire, Scotland have again re-launched their battle to persuade the DfT to introduce an overtaking ban for stationary school buses. This follows the death five years ago of a 12-year-old girl in circumstances that could’ve been prevented had a speeding motorist not overtaken the girl’s bus. Stagecoach continues to back the campaign. That this has come to nought in five years indicates its complexity.
In favour of such an overtaking ban is:
- No matter how much you ‘educate’ pupils to behave rationally, they may still tend to cross immediately in front of or behind their bus, in spite of being better off waiting for the bus to move off completely.
- Problems identifying what is and is not a school bus. It would include closed school contracts, of course, but what about vehicles on 12- or 18-hour per day local bus services on which significant pupils happen to travel? Alternatively, what about vehicles that look like service buses used on school contracts?
- It might offer pupils a false sense of security—and raise the risks—given that motorists in the States seemingly regularly ignore what in many states is a mandatory stopping requirement; in the US, buses are easily identifiable as a school bus as part of their culture. Over here, stopping is against ours.
11 comments:
TIMES DONT CHANGE!!.BACK IN 1950 MY GIRLFRIEND WAS KNOCKED OVER WHILST DOING JUST THIS,SO ITS NOT A NEW PROBLEM.ONLY WISH I KNEW THE ANSWER.EDUCATION I GUESS.
I've noticed that some operators of newer school buses use the square rear digital box as a school bus symbol instead of the plastic signs. This is potentially a good idea but it isn't really a clear pictogram. The children look spinally and it isn't obvious what the pictogram represents. At least it's always available to the driver (won't be lost like the plastic sign itself) and can we switched on and off (provided driver remembers, but they can forget to put up their plastic signs, too!)
Drivers are reluctant to stop for school crossing patrols and always, but always, have to pass a bus so the chances of them stopping for school buses are nil.
What are the figures for children's accidents as pedestrians on roads generally and of those what percentage relate to alighting from (school) buses?
Without that data, how can a sensible decision be made?
Would never work Probably more dangerous implementing it.
cold head said...
"What are the figures for children's accidents as pedestrians on roads generally and of those what percentage relate to alighting from (school) buses?"
I can't directly answer that question, but I think that there have been two similar incidents of this nature in north east Scotland in the 'recent past', which explains why this particular campaign originates in Aberdeenshire.
As others have commented, I suspect that any such legislation will be difficult to enforce in various respects. The (false) sense of security, that children may be lulled into by the existence of such legislation, might well, as the last anonymous poster suggests, actually create more danger. Of course, those 'build out' bus stops that came up on this site a few weeks ago might help in some situations, particularly if they are positioned to enable one bus to block the whole road, but I don't foresee that happening in the UK.
I have lived in the US for 7 years and have come to the conclusion that the Yellow school bus requirement not to overtake stopped buses has instilled a false sense of security and lack of any awareness in Americans as pedestrians. It is frightening to watch them especially in mall car parks just walk or wander out in front of cars and just expecting them to give way.Obviously something needs to be done, but it should be part of a wider education
I don't think such legislation would be (a) feasible, or (b) sensible.
Round here, there are some buses that run as dedicated school contract services, there are some that run as service buses on school days only and divert to run to/from/via the school, and there are some that run as normal service buses and just happen to carry children travelling to and from school. Drivers are not going to remember to put a 'schoolchildren' sign in the back window at the start of the relevant journey and remove it at the end, especially on normal service buses.
This would lead to inconsistency of practice, if some buses were marked as school buses and others weren't. If a bus wasn't marked as a school bus, the ban couldn't be enforced. But if the sign was left in place when not needed, this would lead to drivers ignoring it altogether - the classic 'crying wolf' syndrome.
Comments such as "in circumstances that could’ve been prevented had a speeding motorist not overtaken the girl’s bus" are unhelpful to the debate. Yes, there was one incident five years ago where an accident of type X happened. But if the driver wsa speeding, what reason do you have for believing he would have stopped instead of passing the bus?
It's not unlikely that, if this law was in place, there would be more children killed while crossing the road around the school bus, because they would be habituated into assuming there would be no traffic coming, so when a driver - whether through ignorance or design - illegally passes a stationary school bus, there is a very high probability of him wiping out a child.
And unless the school bus waits in position until all children who may want to cross the road have crossed the road, it isn't saving anyone. Children that walk in front of the bus or behind it are just as likely to get hit by the bus or following cars when the bus starts moving.
There is also the danger that children, used to using the school bus and getting a free run across the road, will forget when they are using a normal service bus, on a weekend maybe, and so forget to look before crossing the road.
Children need to be taught how to cross the road safely - whether they're getting off a school bus, a normal bus or just out walking along the pavement (obviously these last two don't really apply in the USA, which may partly explain the difference in attitude!). If they are not old enough to cross the road by themselves, they should be accompanied by an adult. If they are old enough to cross the road by themselves then they are old enough to cross the road by themselves. Wrapping them in cotton wool doesn't help anyone, least of all the children who need to learn what is safe and what is dangerous.
I have no data on deaths of pupils crossing the road immediately after being dropped off by a school bus. My guess is that these would be hidden within pedestrian rather than PSV passenger counts. Nevertheless, RC169 in his recent post on emergency exists pointed out that there were only eight PSV-related deaths in 2008.
The issue is the definition of what is a school bus, as there are many services that are considered a school bus by the general public but are not technically a school bus. These are registered services available to the general public but happen to run to/from a school, would these be covered as they are not considered school buses by other safety legislation (seatbelts, signing etc.). If they are not then it is a waste of time as this would, i suspect, cover more school related journeys than dedicated school buses, but if they are included no car driver will ever be able to work out whether he can overtake a vehicle or not.
In short it is just not practical in a country that has the densest and one of the most widely used bus networks in the world. In the US (and most of Europe) a school bus is a school bus and there is very little in the way of general public transport. In the UK normal service buses also provide 'school-related' transport and there are many more other public transport vehicles all looking the same. It is a minefield that is impractical to sort out in the UK.
I was stopped in the middle of the road (no pavement on this rural route) with hazard warnings flashing, rear fog lights flashing, and my arm out of the window with the 'stop' signal. And still a police car mounted the pavement and drove past the offside of the bus. And they think car drivers are going to stop!!!
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