Whenever I see a school bus, I covet. We don't have buses in our town. This is especially true when it's pouring rain and I am coming from picking my son up at his school on the other side of town and I need to get my daughter in time to get her to the sitter. The double drop-off and pick-up is not fun. But now, I am never going to complain again.
In New Jersey, the latest reason to fear the school bus is simply insane. Some drivers are drinking on the job. Yes, you read that right. Bus drivers are drunk while transporting students. There really are no words.
Carole Crockett, 46, faces 25 counts of driving under the influence with a minor and child endangerment after students riding on the bus with her reported her irrational behavior and erratic driving.
The fact that children had to report this woman who was two times the legal limit and that they would have felt so scared on a bus ride to school is just incomprehensible. What could make a woman do something so blindingly stupid?
We are so lucky that we are talking about a close call rather than a horrific accident. It's bad enough to get behind the wheel drunk any time, but when you're in charge of children? When your job is to transport them? It's just insane.
The next time I am driving 15 places in one day and whining to myself about how much work it all is, I will think of this story and be thankful. I would rather drive my children safely through blizzards and rain storms than risk their lives by sending them on an unsafe bus. And while certainly, this isn't the "norm," it does give a parent pause to hear a story like this.
We expect those whom we trust with our children to care for them as we would. This is a massive abuse of trust and about so much more than drunk driving. I hope she never drives another bus or car again.
Do you use the bus? Do you trust it?
Image via Cast a Line/Flickr