OK friends, WWYD:
There's a #SchoolBus around here that's been particularly menacing to other road users this fall. We've had quite a few run-ins, and I suspect it's the same bus (/driver) who nearly clipped my kid a few days ago.
Today, we managed to get video footage of said bus blasting through a stop sign.
On one hand, it's the holidays. This footage could/should land the driver in hot water, and no one needs that right now.
OTOH, this bus/driver's gonna get somebody killed. (1/2)
@DrTCombs Send the footage
Fk that guy being a danger to everyone else with his multi ton murder machine
Loosing his job at Xmas would be a good look for him.
@DrTCombs Dredging up my (very old) memories of public school administration, you 100% should report this, the only issue is timing. There are two factors to consider here:
1) The driver. Should they get any slack or consideration? Frankly no. This is a repeated pattern, not a one off, and if they wanted consideration they shouldn't have been putting people's lives in danger. (Including, from the school district's standpoint, the kids on the bus)
@DrTCombs 2) The district. Holiday breaks are times when everyone's on vacation, staff is thin, and the people left tend to be overworked or slacking off. (Or both) Reporting it over the break will likely annoy whoever's around to take the report, and you have a good chance (both from an "oops I lost it 'accidentally'" and a for-real misplaced in the shuffle) of the report going nowhere, and if it does go somewhere it'll go to people annoyed to deal with it.
@DrTCombs So honestly what I'd do is after new year's, maybe on the third, make the report. Preface it with "I was thinking about this over the holidays and mentioned it to family and they pushed me to report it/were horrified" when you do. That'll get you as best circumstances for reporting as you can.
The district *will* hate this -- finding new drivers is generally a nightmare everywhere -- but they hate getting sued even more. No guarantees anything happens, but...
@DrTCombs Presenting it like you're reluctant to say anything but feel like you have to because you know the person *you're reporting it to* (not the driver, but the district) is going to get slammed and you feel bad about that will get you the furthest. Which is... well, y'know, people. We do what we must.
@wordshaper Thank you. This is a really good, experience-informed suggestion and I will definitely follow it.
@DrTCombs send the footage right away. And hope it prevents this situation of near misses from becoming actual hits.
It is good to feel for the driver. And you can word that with the footage. The hot water he lands in might then end up in educating him.
@DrTCombs I had several incidents with a school bus driver (assuming same driver) but didn't have footage. I reported it to the administration and transportation director and suggested all bus drivers take Bicycle-friendly Driver course and offered to teach it. I heard back that they would speak with the driver but nothing about training.
@DrTCombs I have reported bus drivers. I don’t know if they got in trouble but hopefully they got a talking to. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@DrTCombs I would definitely send the footage, regardless of the day. When I started reading this I already remembered the bus driver from your previous posts. For everyone’s sake, ensuring that people who can act on it know immediately matters. (It's entirely possible they've had other complaints and this will confirm a pattern.)
Today is the last day of school before the winter break, so the hazard this driver presents is on hold for a couple of weeks.
Do I:
Send the footage to the district office anyway?
Send the office to the town, whom I've been begging for traffic calming at this very intersection for 3 years?
Sit on the footage until after the holidays?
Something else?
This is not a "just have a conversation with the driver" situation for multiple reasons.
I'm truly stumped. (2/2)