"Just do good, don't worry about the road ahead." - Monk Wansong
August 10 marks the start of another school year in Gwinnett County, Georgia where I live. The county educates over 173,000 students and every year that number grows. With a school system this large, it also involves transporting quite a few students to and from school.
Gwinnett County Schools Transportation Department operates more than 1,900 school buses, which transport more than 127,000 students twice daily. Along with other activities, the GCPS buses travel more than 23.3 million miles annually. One can imagine this means quite a few bus stops five days out of the week.
This means watching out for those flashing red stop signs on those buses.
A 2014 study by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, statistics from 29 states found that almost 86,000 vehicles illegally passed 97,000 school buses in one day. Put in broader terms, nearly 13 million illegal passes nationally in a typical 180-day school year.
- Those kids getting on and off the bus are your kids.
- Those kids are your grand-daughters and grand-sons.
- Those kids are your nieces and nephews.
- Those kids are your friends kids.
Do you get the picture?
Please be safe out there when driving. Be patient and obey the laws. If you do not know or understand the law when coming upon a school bus stop arm, make the safe choice and stop. You might have a few car horns irritated if you got it wrong.
Better to suffer a car horn than injuring a child.
Stay inspired my friends.
