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6 Investigates: Dangerous Bus Stop
Posted: Mar 19, 2013 5:28 PM by Andrew Ellison - aellison@kristv.com
Updated: Mar 19, 2013 6:44 PM
ARANSAS PASS - An Aransas Pass woman tells 6 News that she's worried about her children who ride a school bus home. She says they're dropped off on the side of a busy highway.
They live on Gile Street right off Hwy 35.
So when Rebecca Sportsman's 7 year old daughter and 12 year old son get off the bus, there are usually cars zooming by at high speeds along the highway.
The bus pulls over and puts on it's lights, but Sportsman says that rarely stops the cars zooming by.
And try as she might, she can't get the Aransas Pass School District to change the bus stop.
"I'm just frustrated and trying to figure out how to protect my kids when they're on and off the bus," Sportsman says.
District officials and police say the bus can't go down Gile Street because the street dead ends, and then the bus would have to back out into highway traffic.
The bus can't drop the kids off on another street either because then the kids would have to walk along the highway to get to their houses.
Aransas Pass Police Chief Eric Blanchard pointed out an even bigger problem.
State law says that all vehicles have to come to a complete stop when the bus is making a stop, but in this case, with vehicles going up to 75 mph, Blanchard says it actually makes it more dangerous.
"If a vehicle were to stop on the highway, we would have a major pile-up. We could have vehicles careening into the bus," he says.
And considering traffic tickets are about being safe on the road, we asked him if he'd write someone a ticket for driving past the bus.
"Am I going to light them up? No." Blanchard says.
At this point, the District and police feel the bus stop is the best option they have.
Stetson Roane is the Director of Special Projects for the District.
"It's not the best situation, but it's a safe situation, I feel," he says.
But Sportsman is not as optimistic.
"All it's going to take is one person not paying attention," she says.
District officials have talked to Sportsman and say they are working to make the drop off as safe as possible.
They've asked the Texas Department of Transportation to put up additional signs reminding drivers to stop when the bus is there.
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