to think if a school bus has stopped to let children on from the opposite side of the road the traffic should stop and wait until the children are safely on the bus?

[Agincourt]

because I am finding it bloody infuriating.

My child gets picked up for 'road safety issues' by a council run bus scheme. We live in a location where there is no footpaths and it's also on a very bad bend. The bus driver pull to the centre of the road to try and block the traffic going round it, but still people overtake before my child has even crossed the road. Today some idiot drove up the grass verge where we were standing waiting because he hadn't got time to stop and nearly ran us over

If everyone just waited my child could get on the bus within less than a minute and the bus would be on it's way. As it is, everyone has to wait longer and my childs safety is put at risk because people can't be arsed to wait :(

In America there are apparently laws in place so that people do not overtake school buses when they are stationary, not sure if this rule applioes in other countries but I wish they would do something here.

Halbanoo - school buses generally have a school bus sign in the front and rear windows - it's orange with a pic of 2 children on it.

Agincourt - I completly get what you are saying - have had similar situation myself. I don't know what you can do about it, if the bus parked diagonally across the road it would stop the traffic, but not a particluarly sensible manoeuvre to carry out. YADNBU.

And everyone flaming the op for not getting on the bus somewhere else - There is no where else. She lives on a road with no paths, so short of walking her dcs along the road that these idiot drivers are on (the actual road, not a pavement), standing on a verge seems the most sensible option.

Some of these posters have clearly never been to the countryside - in lots of places there is no "other place" to stop!

It does sound like a difficult situation.

I think I'd be tempted to buy a very large high-vis jacket and stand in the road to stop the traffic, before waving your DS across and onto the bus. The trouble is that yes, of course people shouldn't overtake, but people are stupid and selfish when they are in their cars.

Can you make a sign and attach it to a tree? I've seen a few around here saying things like "slow - school buses stopping"

Here lies the remains of Elsie Cray
Who died maintaining her right of way
Her way was right
Her will was strong
But she's just as dead as if she was wrong.

Dm used to say that to us if we tried to assume that we had the right of way.

Dolce - the school buses here in a lot of cases have no indication they are school buses, and a lot of children get to school on normal bus services.

Am at everyone that's giving you a hard time.

It is probably unreasonable ... or at least unrealistic ... to expect car drivers to stop. Sadly, our world is so car-orientated that people appear to think it's legitimate to leave their brains behind when they get behind the wheel.

But it is utterly daft for people to expect you to walk to somewhere "safer" when it is abundantly clear that doing so would be dangerous in itself. And a driver who drives up a grass verge to overtake a stationary school bus is quite clearly not thinking through what's going on.

DeWe _ I love that verse! (I may pinch it, and aim it at a few people I know) :)
Your Dm's very wise.

chicken korma, why is it daft to suggest someone walk to a safer place? Posters, myself included, are merely suggesting safer alternatives. Sometimes when you are in the thick of it you yourself can't see a solution.
Every problem has a solution.
Don't call people daft for trying to help. It's not our fault that we don't have a clear photo of the said road to study.

Brian butterfield- aroad is generally not one long 'bad bend' for mile after mile
especially one that according to the OP seems to be so busy

Unfortunately we do not have the USAs attitude to school buses in this country.

Drivers will over take them and that is not going to change.

My DDs bus stops on a narrow pavement less road and they simply have to be careful, just as they are walking or cycling.

It is not perfect, but the whole British attitude to home to school transport is appalling.

Well you won't see me call you a twat then pusheed.

I think the bus driver is BU.

Despite having been warned by his employers, he persists in stopping in the middle of the road on a dangerous bend.

Bringing aggro from a different thread.

I don't know what Pusheed is on about either. One of my children goes to special school is a fact, it's actually called a special school.

If we are going back to the original issue :o the lane has got no footpaths for the whole of the lane and tbh the bend is just a different issue. Other children have to catch the bus from outside their houses on the lane as well. It would more dangerous for me to send him walking down the lane to catch it not on the bend (where our house is) as the traffic is so fast and it's what the transport is provided for. I have already explained why he cannot wait on the other side of the road.

I do accept it is unreasonable to expect the traffic to stop but it is dangerous to overtake the bus on the bend. The driver stops just before the bend on the opposite side, he cannot stop anywhere else. The traffic behind him cannot see round the bus to see if anything is coming up the lane in the opposite direction anyway, but tbh I have seen 2 accidents only in the last week where people have had oncoming accidents because of overtaking tractors, not on this lane I might add, that i think people take silly risks anyway to avoid having to take longer on their journey.

I would say the dangerous thing was the bus stopping on a bend, that in itself is an accident waiting to happen if the road is as busy as you say,

Having grown up rurally I completely understand you OP. YANBU.

Oh and my child goes to special school. I'll have two at special school in September. That's what it's called, Special School.

Of course anyone with any sense agrees with you op! Children crossing should take absolute priority!

I feel I would actually like to punch the driver who sped past on the grass. but then having had my dd seriously injured recently by a stupid driver i understand how preciousness Life is.

No-one is arguing that stupid drivers should not overtake in inappropriate positions.

However, lots of people are arguing that stupid drivers should not stop there buses in unsafe locations against both the highway code and the council advice.

And others are also arguing that parents should take their children to be picked up in a place where it's safe. Despite living in a rural west country community with very high banked hedges I have never seen a rural road that is absolutely unsafe to walk on, and I cannot imagine one would exist. If it did, I certainly wouldn't live in a location where my children were trapped in their home unless being driven out of it.

No, the bus stops opposite the house on advice of transport services. The bus is provided because of road safety issues and I think you will find as part of the terms and conditions as laid out by transport services by the council, this is where they are insured to stop too.

The bus is also allowed to wait 5 minutes on that bend if my son isn't ready, but you will all be relieved to know he hasn't been late waiting for the bus not once since he started school.

The lane really isn't safe to walk on, especially not down the lane. It would be like taking your life into your own hands because at rush hour, and rush hour only, it is used as a rat run.

"The council have advised the bus to stop blocking " Is what you wrote earlier, and now you're saying the council requires the bus to stop there. Which is it?

So you would - in theory - expect the traffic to stop for 5 minutes so as not to overtake the bus when the bus is parked stupidly

All road users are people.
Many people are ignorant, selfish idiots, wrapped up their own little worlds.

Therefore, many road users are...

You're making the mistake of assuming the people in cars will notice the child, never mind connect it to the bus that they must get past.

(Everyone is guilty of this sort of thing sometimes)

I think you're lucky the bus stops by your house. Times change. Where I grew up the farm kids had to walk down to the nearest stop on the main road. Unless it was more than two miles (I think) - they got a taxi to the nearest stop.

I suppose it's dependant on the age of the children as well? My neighbour's son gets a mini bus taxi to primary school with a couple of other kids from nearby, but he'll have to walk to secondary school I think. But by that time the housing will have been built on the field across the road and there'll be a pavement to walk on.