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Letter to the editor

Today's Letters: Beware of school buses

On Nov. 13, while on my way home from work at 4:48 p.m., I witnessed a daily occurrence: cars passing a stopped school bus. This was on U.S. 19 southbound, just north of the Calvary Chapel (site of the old Wal-Mart) in Pinellas Park. This time I counted no fewer than seven vehicles that passed the school bus in the same direction while it was completely stopped with its lights flashing and stop arm extended (traffic in my northbound lane was at a near stop, so I was able to count this time).

I write about this for three reasons:

1. I am overwhelmingly curious as to the thought process of anyone who would pass a stopped school bus. Is there any real good excuse? Were you not paying attention? Are you just a sociopath? Please, write this good paper back and tell us all why you do this.

2. When are our lawmakers going to put some real teeth into the fines for passing a stopped school bus? The current fine is $160.50. By comparison, parking in a handicapped spot, which causes no immediate danger of harm or death to anyone, costs $250. Let's raise the fines to $500, assess points and require community service - maybe scrubbing the buses one Saturday afternoon, or if a person has a clean background, devoting a day to riding a bus as a monitor.

3. And lastly, just why in heaven's name is there a bus stop for elementary-age kids on busy U.S. 19? I thought that after the tragedies of the past few years, the Pinellas Schools Transportation Department was taking steps to relocate bus stops to less dangerous areas. There is also a bus stop right in the middle of Keene Road northbound, near Sunset Point Road, that I pass every morning. Every day, one or more vehicles blow by this bus as it is stopped. Yes, every day. Why does this bus stop there? Maybe someone from transportation would care to answer.

I laud the police departments that are trying to curtail these flagrant violations, but they can only do so much.

Change is needed - in the fines, in the designations of the stops and in the mentality of people who commit this act - before another tragedy strikes. Please, do it for the children.

Nanette Angelone,Clearwater

Allow bikes on sidewalks

It seems to me a simple way to eliminate most of the many deaths and injuries our area has experienced would be to change the existing law to allow bicyclists to use sidewalks, when available, giving way to pedestrians, when encountered. Most sidewalks are lightly used.

It would also make sense to standardize the stop signs at crossings on the Pinellas Trail. They are not consistent. Some have stop signs for motorists and some do not. It would be better and safer to have them one way or the other. Many crossings have only occasional bicyclists or walkers.

David Waddell,Clearwater

[Last modified November 24, 2007, 21:13:34]