Overtaking a schoolbus stopped on a blind bend

BrianD3

If you came up behind a school bus parked on a blind bend waiting to pickup children on a busy national secondary route (with no hard shoulders) what would you do? I see this regularly and my policy is to wait behind the bus as overtaking it risks a serious head on crash with oncoming traffic and I know the bus will usually move off in few seconds.

What I find is many drivers cannot wait even 10 seconds for the bus to move off. They overtake immediately. They will tailgate each other while overtaking, reducing their visibility even further. They'll also overtake into fog.

However I had a sticky situation myself recently where I waited behind a bus. And waited. And waited. After 2 minutes of this he still wasn't moving. So I have the chocie of overtaking and risking a serious collision. Or staying put and ending my journey until whenever he decides he's going to move off. I chose to overtake :mad: IMO it is an unsatisfactory that I was put in this position. There has to be a better way to transport children to school than to have buses stopping in dangerous locations on busy roads "somebody think of the children" indeed :rolleyes:

the_syco

Three things I can think of:
Beep the horn
Get their registration
Report them

seamus

I'd stop and wait rather than risk overtaking. But like you, if it appeared that he was parked there for the long haul, my reaction would depend on my mood. On one day, I might go for the overtake, whereas on another day I might get out and tell him off for parking illegally.

Maybe raise the location of the bus stop (if there is one) with the local council or the company who provides the bus service?

Henry Ford III

If it's dangerous to overtake, stay put.

BronsonTB

Generally I'd wait....cause any accident you'll be in the wrong....
Worth reporting the bus stop location as if it's an offical stop is whould have been approved before being put in place. Sounds like a review of where it stops is in order. If it's not an offical stop report the driver/bus route to both CIE & the gaurds. Least then when the accident does happen they can also be brouight into question for failing to act.

Also a few beeps when passing is no harm either....least he know he's causing an obstruction to other road users then....

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www.celicaireland.com

JHMEG

You really should get on to the relevant authority and lobby to get the bus stop moved to a safer location.

Who decides where school bus stops go? I think it's the local authority with the ok from the Gardaí.

mickdw

I sure he is referring to where the bus stops at an individual house to pick up a child & not a bus stop.
Totally stupid bus driver tbh. Fair enough he might have little option but to stop for the child. He can possibly do this safely if he only stops for a matter of seconds. No way should he stop for more than a few seconds in a situation like that.
You simply cannot overtake if its just a lottery as to whether you are going to be killed by an oncoming artic lorry.

JHMEG

When I used get the school bus it didn't stop at houses as such, it stopped at bus stops. Eg one stop for a number of houses.

corktina

he is putting schoolkids and other road-users at risk.Take a photo, report him.

mickdw

In many rural areas, it stops at each house as houses can be so far apart. In my area, if it stopped for a group of people, I would have been as well to just walk all the way to school.

746watts

I've had this experience and always waited for the bus to pull away. Not worth having a major accident because numpty driving the bus decides to block the road in a dangerous place waiting for a fanta filled "student" to get on.

Esel

Interesting that in the US (some States at least), it is against the law to pass a stationary school bus from either direction.

DublinDilbert

esel wrote: »

Interesting that in the US (some States at least), it is against the law to pass a stationary school bus from either direction.

Yep once the lights are flashing your not allowed pass, its the same in canada. If your caught doing it (even reported by the bus driver), its something like 6 penalty points (roughly half of what you need to loose your license).

guil

why is everyone jumpin on the bandwagon and whingin about the driver, if he has to pick up the kids what do ya want him to do, try get into their driveway

i drive a bin lorry and have to stop in awkward places on country roads, ya get all sorts of arseholes who get so inconvenienced havin to stop for all of 15 seconds while the bin is bein emptied

BrianD3

guil wrote: »

why is everyone jumpin on the bandwagon and whingin about the driver, if he has to pick up the kids what do ya want him to do, try get into their driveway

As I said in the original post I will always wait behind a bus/bin lorry/hedge cutter if it's only going to be a few seconds. But 2+ minutes and counting with no sign of moving off is ridiculous, inconsiderate and dangerous. It is also against the ROTR to park
"near a bend, the brow of a hill, a humpback bridge, at a continuous white line"
In this case there was both a blind bend and a continuous white line.

With the modern attitude to health + safety etc. it is surprising that bin lorry and bus drivers are permitted to stop in dangerous locations.

Lets say I'm stopped behind a school bus on a bend waiting for minutes for him to move off. A vehicle travelling behind me comes around the bend too fast and cannot stop in time, slamming into my vehicle and the bus. I'm now paralysed from the neck down. Do you think that the bus operator, the bus driver and their insurance will get away scot free when I start suing?

guil

probably not but again what other option is there, i cant get the house moved so whereever there is bins i need to stop, ya could say i could move up the road abit but then the operator at the back is at risk of gettin hit walkin back to get the bin and again to leave the bin back

bein stopped for 2 mins is takin the piss alright

BrianD3

I could see a situation where waste collection operators simply refuse to service certain houses for health & safety reasons. If people want their waste collected at their front gate then they shouldn't have built their house on a bend.

If bus operators also took this attitude half the country would be wailing to Joe Duffy about the bus driver refusing to collect little Johnny at his house. It would be a major political issue. But really, the same principle applies.

guil

it is a bit odd where some houses are built but what can ya do

GTE

JHMEG wrote: »

You really should get on to the relevant authority and lobby to get the bus stop moved to a safer location.

Who decides where school bus stops go? I think it's the local authority with the ok from the Gardaí.

When its mid route its down to the bus driver.
I know of a similar situation with my old school bus. For the secondary school people its down to where ever is safest for road users, there is also a designated pick up point, ususally the only stop on the route.

But for the primary school kids the people who are not on the route meet up at a designated point, like a junction or current Bus Eireann bus stop but if they live on the route its always at their gate, no exceptions. Safety reasons. Even with the parents walking the kids down the road a little bit, if it has no hard shoulder would you really want to walk you primary school kids down it?
So I think that is what you experience. The bus is at some kids gate waiting for them, not at the designated pick up point that is down to powers at be to decide.

Tea 1000

BrianD3 wrote: »

As I said in the original post I will always wait behind a bus/bin lorry/hedge cutter if it's only going to be a few seconds. But 2+ minutes and counting with no sign of moving off is ridiculous, inconsiderate and dangerous. It is also against the ROTR to park
"near a bend, the brow of a hill, a humpback bridge, at a continuous white line"
In this case there was both a blind bend and a continuous white line.

With the modern attitude to health + safety etc. it is surprising that bin lorry and bus drivers are permitted to stop in dangerous locations.

Lets say I'm stopped behind a school bus on a bend waiting for minutes for him to move off. A vehicle travelling behind me comes around the bend too fast and cannot stop in time, slamming into my vehicle and the bus. I'm now paralysed from the neck down. Do you think that the bus operator, the bus driver and their insurance will get away scot free when I start suing?

If the bend was that dangerous, then I certainly wouldn't want my kids walking on it every day for the sake of preventing some impatient muppet crashing cause he can't wait. If it's a choice between a car hitting a bus that my child is on or a car hitting my child as he walks to the bus which is parked in a boards approved location, then I'd choose the former.
Everyone should be going at a speed that enables them to stop safely if they meet a bus stopped. No excuse for overtaking on a blind bend though.