Slow you down, slow you down.

Well the school year is upon us, and one of the great fringe benefits comes to us in a yellow, lumbering, sometimes irritating form. No, not Homer Simpson: School buses! For those of you who have been caught behind one of these things, then you know the internal (and sometimes external) screams of desperation they can elicit. If you ever find yourself caught behind a bus on a back road, just do yourself a favor and pull off the road, find a radio station you like, and wait 15 minutes before hitting the street again.

For all their lethargy, it certainly could be worse. Buses may be slow, but imagine the traffic that would be created if every parent drove their kid to school? The Wake County Public School System has a web page devoted solely to buses. They claim that:

Throughout the nation, traveling by school bus has been proven to be one of the safest forms of transportation available. A recent report, entitled “The Relative Risks of School Travel: A National Perspective and Guidance for Local Community Risk Assessment”, which was released by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies for Science (NAS) on June 18, 2002, says, in summary, that children are at far more risk traveling to and from school in private passenger vehicles - especially if a teen-age driver is involved - than in school buses. The report also indicates that bicycling and walking also place students at greater risk than traveling by school bus.

Just remember the next time you find yourself behind a bus…it could be worse.

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Tags: General Auto //