My daughter, a freshman in high school, is riding the bus for the first time ever this year. She resisted in the beginning, but has since found that it's a good social time with several of her neighborhood friends. I hope it stays that way, because we hear regularly of assaults on busses, resulting in cameras being placed in them in some school districts. A girl from south of Dallas, Texas was killed last week when someone drove past the bus that was letting her off--the idea with the mobile stop signs on the busses and the red lights is that children can safely cross the road or highway because people travelling both directions are supposed to stop. A couple of weeks ago an elderly bus driver in South Texas ran over one of his small riders who was late for the bus and hurrying to catch up with his brother who had just climbed aboard. It isn't a risk free opeation, as hard as people try to make it so.

I have tried several approaches to the bus stop, because I drop off my daughter then drive a few blocks further to drop off my son at his elementary school. It's a science getting them both to school safely (but the alternative of driving her to high school is a horrible one, probably less safe than the bus option, when one considers how many high school age drivers are near the high school every morning. At least in the bus she's in a heavier vehicle if one of those youthful drives makes a mistake).

SRS