View from school bus driver's seat not a pretty one
Letter to the Editor
Published August 23, 2006
Re: Drivers share responsibility for keeping schoolkids safe, Diane Steinle column, Aug. 13.
I would like to say "thank you" for your article in today's paper! I am a school bus driver with Pinellas County Schools. In my four years of driving for the county, I have seen some close calls that scared the heck out of me.
I have seen people talking on their cell phones simply pass my stopped school bus without even batting an eye. I lay on the horn, hoping that they will look up to see what they have just done. Doesn't work.
In defense of law enforcement, they do patrol the really bad areas. I have seen people give me a look of "Why did you make me stop; I don't have time for this." It is not just any one certain age or gender group; it is everyone that is in too big of a hurry to be cautious around school-age children while they enter or exit a stopped school bus.
I would like to ask a person who just hit a child exiting a stopped school bus: "Was that child's life less important than you getting to your destination a few seconds late?"
Thank you for letting me express myself.
Bruce Maxwell, Clearwater
Put sharper teeth into laws on passing stopped school buses
Re: Drivers share responsibility for keeping schoolkids safe, Diane Steinle column, Aug. 13.
Your column really struck a chord with me. I have an extreme disdain for anyone who thinks his mission to get where he wants to go is so important he makes a habit of passing stopped school buses.
Not a day goes by on my commute to work that I don't see one of these self-important sociopaths go screaming by a stopped bus, oftentimes, the same vehicle. I always sound my horn and sometimes yell out the window for them to stop; many times I am met with that wonderful one-finger salute, which tells me that it wasn't an innocent mistake on their part.
On several occasions at my own high schooler's bus stop (when it is pitch dark in the morning), cars would just blow by. And just last week, my daughter told me the story of an SUV that jumped the concrete median northbound on Keene Road at the intersection with Main Street driving in the opposite lanes, to beat her school bus to the turn signal. As she said, "Where are the cops when you need them?"
Two years ago I did complain to the Clearwater Police Department about cars passing buses on Keene and Sunset Point roads, and they responded right away. I will always be appreciative of that.
It is true, we can't expect our police to follow every single school bus out there. However, I have always felt very strongly, and have written my representatives previous to this, that we should give some more "bite" to the fines or punishments for anyone who commits this atrocious deed of passing a stopped bus.
For example, traffic fines according to the Pinellas County Clerk of the Court's Web site are $157.50 for passing a stopped school bus, and $257.50 for passing a stopped school bus on an exit-entrance side.
By comparison, parking in a disabled parking spot without a permit - an act and violation that brings no risk of bodily harm, or possibly death to others (mainly children,) - carries a fine of $250; in some locations, I have seen signs posting the fines at $255.
Yes, I know it's wrong to park in a handicap spot, but it is so much more wrong to think it's justifiable to ignore a school bus!
I have suggested to lawmakers that in addition to the fines (which should start at $500 and require attendance at a traffic safety course), each violator be required to ride a school bus for a day as a bus monitor to observe the difficult task the bus driver faces every day.
Maybe the violator will be forced to look at every one of those bright and shining faces getting on and off that school bus, and come to a realization that their thoughtlessness and lack of respect for the law could have ended the life of any one of those children in a heartbeat.
Nanette Angelone, Clearwater
Students are the winners when this principal comes to school
Re: Principal gives back by returning home, story, Aug. 1.
I would just like to comment on how lucky the students of Clearwater High School are to have Keith Mastorides join their team as their new principal.
I had three sons recently graduate from Palm Harbor High School and I am not sure if they would have made it without Keith's constant support and encouragement. He was truly someone my boys could go to with personal and school situations, and he was always available, always willing to listen. Very caring and truly a fine professional who will be missed.
I wish him the best of luck in his new role. I know my boys' lives will forever be impacted by the positive manner in which Keith treated them, in good and bad times.
Kristine Anderson, Dunedin
Burying power lines would save everyone money in the long term
Re: Programmed pruning of privately owned trees near power lines by power companies.
I guess the "V" cut out of the tree canopy sums up their victory in their battle against nature and homeowners. Many of the trees die, not today but in the near future.
Is this necessary to protect us from the storms? Surprise, it doesn't protect us. It weakens the trees. You never "top" a tree, nor do you weaken the center, leaving no strength to support the branches.
We have asked, begged and pleaded: Put the lines underground. It is past time to do it. I don't want to hear the whine of what it will cost. Every business has expenses. With underground wires, you won't need the bucket trucks and the gas-powered saws. Having your crew work on the ground level will improve your OSHA procedures. They won't be falling out of the air like little birds.
Stop the blah, blah that it's not financially doable; it is.
I'm willing to bet that in the long run or even the short run, putting lines underground will recoup costs faster than you might think, because no matter how the winds howl or the twisters invade, we will have power.
This means savings to your household and mine. No more spoiled food, no children sitting in the darkness in fear, no power lines electrocuting citizens or animals and birds. No one on life support in danger of battery failure.
For the population of Pinellas County it means safety from old uninsulated lines and termite-eaten poles and no desecration of the good vegetation.
Use your software to reshuffle the wires from the air and bury them where they can no longer harm anyone. Keep records of where the lines are buried so the developers and utility companies will know where not to dig or dredge.
It can be done. It should be done. You must do it. In the new subdivisions and commercial-retail projects, it is already done.
Marie F. Hoke-Singer, Largo
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