Late-Night Mini-Rant: Buses and Crossings · 8:33am May 18th, 2016
Anyone that ever rode on a school bus can probably empathize here. Or maybe it's something that only happened to me, and only I'm bothered by. Either way, those times when school buses have to constantly stop at every single train crossing? It's pretty annoying. Now, I didn't really give that much of a shit whilst I was the little twerp riding said bus, no... but in the wonderful world of adulthood, driving the cars that are stuck behind and forced to wait for these buses that stop and start all the time? That's what really grates on me. Mostly because it just wastes my time, and when my time is needlessly wasted, I get a little cranky.
Our town has a pretty sizable railway yard, so trains are coming and going through several old rail lines cutting across the town. It's not terribly busy or anything, maybe two or three trains a day, and a lot of the older railways cutting across some of the roads are never even used anymore. And yet, school buses are obligated to completely stop at every single one of these crossings, open the door -- I'm told that it's supposed to let them hear any oncoming trains more clearly, even though I can't imagine them hearing much over the sound of the engine(s of the cars and trucks surrounding us) -- and then slowly start peddling forward again to crawl over the line, a line of impatient drivers having since built up behind them in the last twelve or so seconds it took for them to stop and go. Hell, city-owned public transit buses do this too, never mind just the school buses. Pretty much ANY bus will do this. Why always buses, anyway?
See, out in the remote, rural and out-of-town areas where a number of railway crossings don't have signals or gates or whatever, this isn't that much of a problem. It makes sense out there, where drivers really ARE blind to oncoming trains in a lot of cases. It's a precaution that they'd only need to do maybe one or two times, given how infrequent the crossings are. But in the middle of the town? Where traffic is almost constantly moving at peak hours, over these railway crossings? And with crossing signals and gates that warn of oncoming trains anyway, even if they are coming around a so-called "blind curve"? If you're unlucky enough to get caught behind a bus -- and believe me, there are very few opportunities you will get to pass them if you do -- then it's an inconvenience at best and a test of your mental endurance (and brake pads) at worst.
Before anyone rags on me for this: Yes, I know, this is all done because of the laws put in place. Drivers are obligated to follow them. Gotta keep those kiddies and whatnot safe and all. Buses are long and maybe might somehow get stuck or something. Liabilities and all that other legal bullshit. But god-damn is it ever annoying when a bus I'm trailing behind (and can't just pass) suddenly decides to stop in the middle of the main road through the fucking town out of nowhere for the sixth damn time in a row. It's all done with good intention, but that doesn't mean I'm not irked by it at times. Especially when there are places I need to be, and quickly. Yeah, I'm an impatient cunt, but honestly, what did you expect? Why the living fuck would these archaic rules apply in places where it's completely fucking redundant?
...So yeah, that's a thing that mildly annoys me. Going to bed now.
~Blinkie
Don't worry, I remember this happening too when I was a kid. Though, I sometimes would question why cars could drive through freely while buses were forced to stop at them. I also remember that we might have had to make some wierd hand signal when it stopped for some reason, I don't know
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That's strange. Like, what's the purpose? School buses around here drive however they want and no one bats an eye.
That's weird. Here in Ireland, schoolbuses don't have to stop at railway crossings unless there's a train. At least, my bus doesn't anyway.
Escort a truck full of explosives and they stop at every unmarked and marked rail crossing. What could have taken 30 minutes tops takes an hour plus change. It's the rules but still annoys the hell out of me.