The Greensboro City Council has been invited to attend the Safer Schools Forum hosted by NC Governor Pat McCrory. Sorry, I can't stop myself.
Here's an idea for you: As I proposed when I ran my write-in campaign for Mayor of Greensboro in 2007. While we're talking about making schools safer why not also make getting our kids to and from school safer with safer bus stops? Move the school bus stops to the middle of the block and post signs designating every school bus stop.
From the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Selecting School Bus Stop Locations: A Guide for School Transportation Professionals v 5 July 2010
"However, corner stops can be considered less preferable due to the inability to easily control all approaching drivers. Some states have noted that if a school bus stop is at an intersection or corner, students should be loaded and unloaded on the far side of the intersection so that the school bus blocks the cross traffic and the stop arm controls the other directions. Although there are advantages and disadvantages for each, perhaps the most important consideration is to avoid locating school bus stops at busy intersections."
In that way school buses aren't blocking intersections and children are only crossing one street instead of 4 when getting on and off the bus. Every school day I watch 4 or more school buses pick up and drop off children in front of my house on the corner as children run in every direction dodging cars, trucks and city buses on cross-streets that are not required to stop for the school bus stop arms because those drivers are traveling on the cross-street and not the same street as the school bus. But if the school bus were in the middle of the block there would be no cross-street...
But I guess getting your children on the bus safely is just too complicated for politicians to figure out. And getting the City to work with the School Board... Hopeless, I know.
Here's an idea for you: As I proposed when I ran my write-in campaign for Mayor of Greensboro in 2007. While we're talking about making schools safer why not also make getting our kids to and from school safer with safer bus stops? Move the school bus stops to the middle of the block and post signs designating every school bus stop.
From the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Selecting School Bus Stop Locations: A Guide for School Transportation Professionals v 5 July 2010
"However, corner stops can be considered less preferable due to the inability to easily control all approaching drivers. Some states have noted that if a school bus stop is at an intersection or corner, students should be loaded and unloaded on the far side of the intersection so that the school bus blocks the cross traffic and the stop arm controls the other directions. Although there are advantages and disadvantages for each, perhaps the most important consideration is to avoid locating school bus stops at busy intersections."
In that way school buses aren't blocking intersections and children are only crossing one street instead of 4 when getting on and off the bus. Every school day I watch 4 or more school buses pick up and drop off children in front of my house on the corner as children run in every direction dodging cars, trucks and city buses on cross-streets that are not required to stop for the school bus stop arms because those drivers are traveling on the cross-street and not the same street as the school bus. But if the school bus were in the middle of the block there would be no cross-street...
But I guess getting your children on the bus safely is just too complicated for politicians to figure out. And getting the City to work with the School Board... Hopeless, I know.
