Who’s behind the school bus survey?

We’re you as concerned as I was over a recent story which found that drivers were running the flashing red lights of school buses.

The story said that in 110 school districts around the state, in one day alone, school bus drivers reported 1500 incidents of illegal passing of school buses.

These types of figures should make all of us stop and ask the following questions:

Who did the survey?

Who paid for the survey?

Why was it undertaken?

What methodology was used to get the results?

What’s the next step?

The news media likes these types of surveys.  They make great news copy and everyone reads them.   They also seem to imply a major problem that needs some type of action – – usually new laws passed by the legislature.

I don’t have any idea who did the survey, who paid for the survey or why they did the survey.

But, I do know that the next step is getting the government to do something.   That usually results in new laws, followed by enforcement, followed by a new financial impact on taxpayers.

But – – here’s what I do know.

This survey seemed to indicate that there’s a major danger to children because people are disobeying the rules regarding school buses.

But – – in Thurston County’s largest school district – – the North Thurston Public Schools — there has been no – – and I repeat – NO – incident of a child ever getting hurt while getting on or off a school bus.

In its entire 50 years of operation, the North Thurston school district has never had a single injury to a child, caused by a driver, while getting on or off a school bus.

I suspect the same is true in Olympia and Tumwater school districts as well.

Maybe we’ve been lucky.  Maybe our school bus drivers do an outstanding job of making certain the road is safe before they let the kids on and off.    Maybe its because most people know and understand the law.

Recently there’s been a move to put cameras on school buses to catch those who violate the law.   This could bring in vast sums of money to those who own and operate the cameras and to the school districts as well.

I suspect the survey was undertaken with the goal of getting school districts to buy into the cameras.

Before we put any stock into this survey let’s see who was behind it.