Those of you who read my blog know that I am not one to rant, but I am beside myself to figure this one out and would like your help.
School has started here in Tennessee, and I am sure the birds, airplanes and other air dwellers are coughing, gagging, and wheezing on the increased auto exhaust. I know I am!
I belong to a men’s reading group which meets at our church at 6:15 every Friday morning. The church is just across the street from our local elementary and middle schools. Last Friday at 7:30 AM I was unable to get out of the church parking lot because of all the cars taking their little angels to school! They were lined up as far as the eye could see on all three streets that serve these schools. Of course the traffic that was moving was only going 15MPH, the state required limit in school zones, and the rest of the cars were standing with their motors running turning all the streets into parking lots. Meanwhile 3-4 buses were creeping along herding the cars into the right driveways. It made my heart sad, and brought tears to my eyes.
When I managed to wait myself out on to the street my driving freedom was short lived; half way between the grade schools and home I was held up by the high school traffic with the endless parade of teen drivers. There is no other way home, so I guess I will have to go back to that remedial course in patience.
It’s like this every morning and evening all the school year. What I can’t understand is why don’t the kids take the bus? Some of the high school kids need to drive so they can get home after sports or music or other extracurricular activities. But a heck of a lot more drive than go out for these activities. And what about the grade school kids? Why must they be driven alone in a car when the school buses go into every neighborhood in the county and leave all but empty?
One mother told me that she felt the buses were too dangerous because they did not have seat belts! Imagine that, they should have seat belts, why don’t they? However, a study of deaths and injuries related to transportation to school by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies has a different story to tell. The study reported in April of this year said, “Each year approximately 800 school-aged children are killed in motor vehicle crashes during normal school travel hours…. Of these 800 deaths, about 20 (2 percent)—5 school bus passengers and 15 pedestrians—are school bus–related. The other 98 percent of school-aged deaths occur in passenger vehicles or to pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcyclists. A disproportionate share of these passenger vehicle–related deaths (approximately 450 of the 800 deaths, or 55 percent) occur when a teenager is driving.” Or, about 5 of the 800 deaths of kid killed on their way to or from school were in buses, while 450 were killed in a car driven by a teenager. I am assuming the other cars were driven by adults.
The article went on, “[A]approximately 152,000 school-age children are nonfatally injured during normal school travel hours each year. More than 80 percent (about 130,000) of these nonfatal injuries occur in passenger vehicles; only 4 percent (about 6,000) are school bus–related (about 5,500 school bus passengers and 500 school bus pedestrians), 11 percent (about 16,500) occur to pedestrians and bicyclists, and fewer than 1 percent (500) are to passengers in other buses.
I would guess that any parent knowing these facts would think twice before driving their kids to school! The buses, even without seat belts, are many times safer, actually more than 100 times safer!
But, even if buses were not that much safer, in this day when every one is talking about air pollution, carbon foot prints, high gas prices, and conservation why would a parent drive their kids to school, and then replace their light bulbs with those non-light producing curly florescent bulbs. It just doesn’t make sense to me.
Oh, one other thing, if there were enough kids demanding it, a second group of buses could take those who stayed for extra curricular activities home when they were finished. What if the school district charged a fee for this late bus, would it come close to the cost of running another car? And how much is it worth to save the lives of 455 school kids?
Think about it and let me know, if you drive your kids to school, what motivates it! I really would like to understand!