The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round. . .

May18

Well, except they don’t go round and round because you find  a police van behind you asking you to pull over!

Ok, so it was the end of a work day and on my way to the chiropropractor. . .but not so fast!  I was driving through an intersection with a green light and noticed a school bus coming the other way, stopping with its yellow lights flashing.  To me that means that you can still drive past that bus because the lights were yellow.

Next thing I know I’m being pulled over by the city police.  MAN!  The police officer came to my window and said, “Ma’am, you passed a school bus when you shouldn’t have”.  I said, “Sir, I believe the lights were still yellow at the time”.  He informed me that the “bar” was out.  You know that yellow bar that swings out so the children can walk around it and so the bus driver can see them while they cross the street.

The police officer wrote my ticket and told me to have a good day and be careful.

Oh, alright!  I’ll be careful and I thought I was being careful.  Now I can’t read the ticket because Mr. Police Officer didn’t press hard enough on the ticket and the impression didn’t take on my copy!  I don’t even know how much (cha-ching) this will cost me.  However, I do plan on challenging it.

I decided to go to the local precinct – from which this officer hails to ask them if they can decifer the ticket.  They couldn’t decifer the charges (money amount – not violation charges)  They did tell me that this is a serious offense, but couldn’t make it out either.  I explained what happened in the incident and that I didn’t believe that I did anything wrong.  I was very quickly told that I should just send it in, plead not guilty and wait for a “trial” date.  Then the male officer also said, “You weren’t told to come here either”. WELL, what a kind and thoughtful thing to say.  I thought these officers were there to “protect and serve”!

Whatever, I have mailed the citaion in.  I may win I may not, but I’ll tell you one thing, be very careful with school buses.  We do have to remember that that rule is very important in order to keep the kids safe, but if I were you, I wouldn’t even proceed when the lights are flashing yellow.  Better safe than sorry!

Sandy Ozanich – (c) 2012

2 thoughts on “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round. . .”

  1. Amen! I learned my lesson some dozen years ago. I was on my way home. A school bus was on the side stopped at an angle. I couldn’t see a sign. I passed by slowly and was pulled over by a police officer within seconds. I told him that the bus was stopped at an angle and that I couldn’t see any sign. I got a ticket – some $200 at the time. An Interesting thing happened. While I remained parked on the side, two more cars passed the same school bus and both were stopped and given tickets. Three of us with the same experience in a matter of a few minutes. I didn’t contest although I felt like it. However, I have been extra careful since then. I’ve learned to give the benefit of the doubt to the school bus. Amen.

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