4 MCPS HS Students Hit by Car at Bus Stop

[Anonymous]

Why are those poor kids waiting for a bus on Georgia Ave??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are those poor kids waiting for a bus on Georgia Ave??

That's what I came here to ask!

I've seen buses pick up.kids on major roads in MoCo and don't understand it. Unless it's a rural road, many other juridictions have the buses pull into the subdivision.

I live off Layhill, and instead of the bus pulling into our subdivision, it stops and lets the kids out while on Layhill road. What the heck!

Those poor kids and their parents, they are in my prayers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are those poor kids waiting for a bus on Georgia Ave??

That's what I came here to ask!

I've seen buses pick up.kids on major roads in MoCo and don't understand it. Unless it's a rural road, many other juridictions have the buses pull into the subdivision.

I live off Layhill, and instead of the bus pulling into our subdivision, it stops and lets the kids out while on Layhill road. What the heck!

Those poor kids and their parents, they are in my prayers.

I suspect that they aren’t zoned for Kennedy, but are the 4 kids who chose Kennedy in the DCC. They may live all over Aspen Hill and that’s the central pick up point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are those poor kids waiting for a bus on Georgia Ave??

That's what I came here to ask!

I've seen buses pick up.kids on major roads in MoCo and don't understand it. Unless it's a rural road, many other juridictions have the buses pull into the subdivision.

I live off Layhill, and instead of the bus pulling into our subdivision, it stops and lets the kids out while on Layhill road. What the heck!

Those poor kids and their parents, they are in my prayers.

In some neighborhoods, it will become more and more difficult to do that! So much high density development in this area, makes it tougher to find areas for the buses to pick up and drop off. Have you been near the Twinbrook metro? The buses and traffic there are also pretty crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are those poor kids waiting for a bus on Georgia Ave??

That's what I came here to ask!

I've seen buses pick up.kids on major roads in MoCo and don't understand it. Unless it's a rural road, many other juridictions have the buses pull into the subdivision.

I live off Layhill, and instead of the bus pulling into our subdivision, it stops and lets the kids out while on Layhill road. What the heck!

Those poor kids and their parents, they are in my prayers.

We are fcps. We have a bus that picks up on a major road. It is a townhome community, where there is no room inside for the bus to pull in and turn around. I think in those cases, the kids have to be picked up and it is better to do it right at the town house community or apartment complex entrance, even on a main road, than to have the kids walk along the busy road to get to a corner for a stop.

[Anonymous]

Shady Grove Road between Piney Meetinghouse and Darnestown Road is also a very dangerous road to have buses picking up students. That road has dump trucks and other large trucks that ride (and speed) up and down Shady Grove all day to/from the quarry near Travilah and Piney Meetinghouse. Buses stop along Shady Grove at multiple streets because the area is full of homes with school age children. Besides the large trucks, the road is very curvy and has no median on parts of the road. I have never understood why buses are allowed to stop on that road, but there have been numerous accidents a little further up the road at both the Darnestown/Shady Grove Road intersection and the 4 way stop sign at Shady Grove and Piney Meetinghouse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not totally related but there is someone who drives to our bus stop and then zooms off, even when the bus is still stopped.

Is there any way to request a bus camera for a specific bus?

Are they passing the bus while it has its "Stop lights" on? (Or have they parked in front of the bus, and then just driving "ahead" of it? Or are they behind the bus, and then going away from the bus?)

Yes!

The person’s kids had already gotten on the bus. But there were other kids still getting on the bus, so the red lights were still flashing. And she drove past it. Has done this several times.

I guess I could film it? But that seems somewhat intrusive.

Some people don't realize how dangerous passing a stopped school bus is. They seem to forget driver's ed that the stop sign on the side of the bus means to stop. Students could be walking across the street in either direction trying to get to the bus (morning) or off the bus (afternoon).

You might be able to call the non emergency number and see if they can send an officer out to sit there during the time this usually happens. I've found police to be weirdly responsive to this kind of thing.

Thank you. That’s a good suggestion. I’d be more willing to do that versus trying to get her on video.

A major fine in Maryland with the camera = $250. I am sure a police ticket will be equally as high but will come also with points on her driver's license. Once she gets the ticket, she probably won't forget to stop for a bus in the future.

Besides calling the non-emergency number for the police, I would also call MCPS about the issue. Maybe start with MCPS Transportation. They are refitting all buses with internal cameras by the beginning of next school year. Surely they should also be putting cameras on all buses to ticket people who pass stopped school buses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not totally related but there is someone who drives to our bus stop and then zooms off, even when the bus is still stopped.

Is there any way to request a bus camera for a specific bus?

Are they passing the bus while it has its "Stop lights" on? (Or have they parked in front of the bus, and then just driving "ahead" of it? Or are they behind the bus, and then going away from the bus?)

Yes!

The person’s kids had already gotten on the bus. But there were other kids still getting on the bus, so the red lights were still flashing. And she drove past it. Has done this several times.

I guess I could film it? But that seems somewhat intrusive.

You might be able to call the non emergency number and see if they can send an officer out to sit there during the time this usually happens. I've found police to be weirdly responsive to this kind of thing.

Thank you. That’s a good suggestion. I’d be more willing to do that versus trying to get her on video.

Why not actually talk to the parent before getting the police involved?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are those poor kids waiting for a bus on Georgia Ave??

Question #1: Why is there a bus stop on Georgia Avenue?
Question #2: What will it take for the Maryland State Highway Administration and the Montgomery County Department of Transportation to finally agree to make Georgia Avenue safe for the many, many people who walk and ride buses on Georgia Avenue? Everybody already knows that Georgia Avenue is dangerous. There's lots of data. If you look at a map of just crashes involving pedestrians in Montgomery County, you can pick out Georgia Avenue. Actually you can pick out all of the state-controlled roads, just from the number of crashes involving pedestrians.

[Anonymous]

There is an elementary bus stop on 355 in Germantown that makes me nervous every time I drive past it. There are kids waiting without adults present way earlier than when the bus is scheduled to arrive. There isn’t that much of an easement and people can drive pretty aggressively down that stretch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not totally related but there is someone who drives to our bus stop and then zooms off, even when the bus is still stopped.

Is there any way to request a bus camera for a specific bus?

Are they passing the bus while it has its "Stop lights" on? (Or have they parked in front of the bus, and then just driving "ahead" of it? Or are they behind the bus, and then going away from the bus?)

Yes!

The person’s kids had already gotten on the bus. But there were other kids still getting on the bus, so the red lights were still flashing. And she drove past it. Has done this several times.

I guess I could film it? But that seems somewhat intrusive.

Some people don't realize how dangerous passing a stopped school bus is. They seem to forget driver's ed that the stop sign on the side of the bus means to stop. Students could be walking across the street in either direction trying to get to the bus (morning) or off the bus (afternoon).

You might be able to call the non emergency number and see if they can send an officer out to sit there during the time this usually happens. I've found police to be weirdly responsive to this kind of thing.

Thank you. That’s a good suggestion. I’d be more willing to do that versus trying to get her on video.

A major fine in Maryland with the camera = $250. I am sure a police ticket will be equally as high but will come also with points on her driver's license. Once she gets the ticket, she probably won't forget to stop for a bus in the future.

Besides calling the non-emergency number for the police, I would also call MCPS about the issue. Maybe start with MCPS Transportation. They are refitting all buses with internal cameras by the beginning of next school year. Surely they should also be putting cameras on all buses to ticket people who pass stopped school buses.

This is FANTASTIC news!! I am on here all the time complaining about MCPS not doing enough to keep kids safe. I had not heard this, but thank you.

We've had several incidents on bus routes for our ES of kids acting up, physical aggression, etc. Internal cameras will definitely be a welcome addition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are those poor kids waiting for a bus on Georgia Ave??

That's what I came here to ask!

I've seen buses pick up.kids on major roads in MoCo and don't understand it. Unless it's a rural road, many other juridictions have the buses pull into the subdivision.

I live off Layhill, and instead of the bus pulling into our subdivision, it stops and lets the kids out while on Layhill road. What the heck!

Those poor kids and their parents, they are in my prayers.

I suspect that they aren’t zoned for Kennedy, but are the 4 kids who chose Kennedy in the DCC. They may live all over Aspen Hill and that’s the central pick up point.

Why do you say that? Isn’t that area zoned for Kennedy?

[Anonymous]

I don't know about internal cameras, but the cameras for the school bus safety enforcement program are all supposed to be installed by January 2019.

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/pol/bussafety.html


Also... Basic Facts:
All camera-generated violations are reviewed by the police department’s Automated Traffic Enforcement Unit and citations are mailed to the registered owner. The camera-generated fine as of July 1, 2017, is $250. No points are associated with a citation issued through the automated school bus camera program. The fine for a citation for the same offense issued by a police officer is $570 and three points are assessed on the driver’s license.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are those poor kids waiting for a bus on Georgia Ave??

Question #1: Why is there a bus stop on Georgia Avenue?
Question #2: What will it take for the Maryland State Highway Administration and the Montgomery County Department of Transportation to finally agree to make Georgia Avenue safe for the many, many people who walk and ride buses on Georgia Avenue? Everybody already knows that Georgia Avenue is dangerous. There's lots of data. If you look at a map of just crashes involving pedestrians in Montgomery County, you can pick out Georgia Avenue. Actually you can pick out all of the state-controlled roads, just from the number of crashes involving pedestrians.

The problem in our neighborhood is that kids are walking along the shoulder of a busy road because there is no bus transportation and no sidewalk. It's not as busy as Georgia Ave, but still a major throughway during rush hour. There's also a road where cars stop/line up to turn left and others pass too quickly along the right shoulder-- the shoulder where kids are walking. The best solution would be sidewalks (I've sent a request to the county and never heard a peep), but second best would be to bus the kids from that neighborhood so they don't need to walk along shoulder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are those poor kids waiting for a bus on Georgia Ave??

That's what I came here to ask!

I've seen buses pick up.kids on major roads in MoCo and don't understand it. Unless it's a rural road, many other juridictions have the buses pull into the subdivision.

I live off Layhill, and instead of the bus pulling into our subdivision, it stops and lets the kids out while on Layhill road. What the heck!

Those poor kids and their parents, they are in my prayers.

I suspect that they aren’t zoned for Kennedy, but are the 4 kids who chose Kennedy in the DCC. They may live all over Aspen Hill and that’s the central pick up point.

Why do you say that? Isn’t that area zoned for Kennedy?

It looks to me like it's zoned for Kennedy.

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/KennedyHS.pdf