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I just got in the door and I am livid over what I just saw. Driving down Maku'u in HPP toward the ocean, we were right behind a school bus that was dropping off kids at almost every street. There were a number of cars behind us as well. When the bus got to 11th, a car shot out from behind us, around I-don't-know-how-many cars and the school bus and barreled off down Maku'u. My friend and I GASPED!! The kids were still getting off the bus!! The school bus still had on its flashing red lights!! The big red stop sign thingie was OUT AND VISIBLE.
No way could this driver know if any kids were in front of that bus about to cross Maku'u!!It's a miracle this moron didn't kill someone.
My friend and I kept our eye on the car as it sped down Maku'u and when the bus driver turned off the flashing lights and motioned us on, we saw the car turn right on 8th toward the dead-end. We followed, turning on 8th as well, intending to get the make and license #, not confront the driver. The car turned into a property near the end of the street, on the left/makai side, but we weren't sure exactly which property it was.
Anyway, it happened so fast we're not sure if it was a sedan or an SUV, but it's a blue/gray car, driven by someone who has no business behind the wheel.
Unbelievable lack of aloha and common sense!!! That driver is lucky he/she didn't take a kid's life today. So needlessly dangerous.
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So did you get the license plate etc and turn them in? Even if you didn't, the school bus driver might have. Your witness testimony might be valuable but I doubt Puna's finest are trolling Punaweb looking for school bus violators.
ETA:
p.s. Good job trying to do something about this.
Very disturbing to have such aggressive and careless drivers driving about. I think the moon this month may be affecting many youth around these parts,jmo. The past week or two at Pahoa high for example, has been very challenging. The police have been called to the high school a few times recently for multiple fights, assaults, and threats. One kid brought in a gallon of alcohol, proceeded to get drunk in school, before punching out a couple of students and a janitor. Another student brought a knife to school to threaten to kill a teacher. Then today multiple fights broke out to once again send 5 cops to the high school during yet another lock down.
Wouldn't surprise me if this crazy driver who recklessly speeds by school buses while lights are flashing, is young enough to still be in high school. Apparently he has a similar schedule?
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quote:
Originally posted by terracore
So did you get the license plate etc and turn them in? Even if you didn't, the school bus driver might have. Your witness testimony might be valuable but I doubt Puna's finest are trolling Punaweb looking for school bus violators.
No, didn't get the plate # bc we couldnt tell where it went once it went down 8th. I hope the driver got the #. Luckily the car coming the other way had stopped for the bus, or he would have hit it, too. It seriously shook us up. Maybe I'll call the non-emergency line tomorrow to see if the bus driver or anyone else reported it. I'd back them up.
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I've seen one or two of the school bus drivers pull their bus over to the left in HPP when stopping so that the front of the bus is encroaching into the oncoming lane. Although it wouldn't completely prevent psychotic idiots doing what's been described here, it's an added deterrence. I wonder if it could be made common practice?
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I have seen this happen quite often actually. It is disturbing and I am very surprised that no one has been injured. On the other side of the fence, I and several other people in HPP are sick and tired of these school busses stopping at every street. I am also sick of the lazy parents who cant drop their kids of at a central location or bring their dogs not on leashes to run around in the road. Makuu and 14th I believe this happens every morning for just one example.
Or the parents who drive their kids to the main roads and then wait for the bus to stop and open doors before putting on their kids jackets and backpacks and then hugging them and telling them to have a great day holding up traffic for even longer in the mornings.
The bus stopping at every road to pick up one or two kids blows my mind. Why not designate 3 or 4 pick up/drop off zones instead of 30+ in HPP? Our roads are less than 1000' apart.
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It is frustrating, but I always assume that some kids might have to walk a long way on their road to their house. And if we had less stops, then they'd be walking along Maku'u, Paradise, etc. Not all parents are home to pick up their kids at the bus stop. What I try to do is not be going home betw. 2:30 and 3:15, but that doesn't always work. Maybe there's some state rule about how close to a house a pickup/dropoff has to be.
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TomK - I like the idea of the bus taking up both sides of the road for each stop. I've seen the do it, too. Probably against traffic laws, though.
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It's not like school is a different time every day! Most of us have learned when the dreaded school bus is out and about messing up traffic. If you cannot avoid the 7am~ pickup and 2pm~ dropoff then you're just stuck. Sit back and enjoy the delay and remember - No More Homework =)
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quote:
Originally posted by islandlvng
I have seen this happen quite often actually. It is disturbing and I am very surprised that no one has been injured. On the other side of the fence, I and several other people in HPP are sick and tired of these school busses stopping at every street. I am also sick of the lazy parents who cant drop their kids of at a central location or bring their dogs not on leashes to run around in the road. Makuu and 14th I believe this happens every morning for just one example.
Or the parents who drive their kids to the main roads and then wait for the bus to stop and open doors before putting on their kids jackets and backpacks and then hugging them and telling them to have a great day holding up traffic for even longer in the mornings.
The bus stopping at every road to pick up one or two kids blows my mind. Why not designate 3 or 4 pick up/drop off zones instead of 30+ in HPP? Our roads are less than 1000' apart.
There are no sidewalks in HPP, and the road crew doesn't even keep the main roads mowed enough to have a safe place to walk, much less on the side roads. How are kids supposed to safely get to a handful of bus stops? My road has such huge craters full of water on it that kids would have to wade to get to the end of the road.
What HPP really needs is its own schools. Last census there were 2500 school age kids in HPP, by now there are even more. Most of the new houses being built are family homes being built for local families, not spec homes for retirees, so I would bet that by 2020 there will be closer to 5000 school age kids than 3500. The DOE wants 2000 kids in an area to build a K-12 set of schools. HPP has the land set aside and HPP families need to start demanding an HPP school. Having half our kids go to Pahoa, and half go to Kea'au makes no sense for our community at this point.
