In response to recent incidents in Lakewood and Jackson where children were nearly struck while getting onto or being dropped off a bus, the Jackson Township is taking action.
Just yesterday, TLS published a video of a child in Jackson nearly struck while crossing the street to a waiting school bus.
The video reached officials within the local townships, and in response, Jackson Council President Jennifer L. Kuhn told TLS she has expedited her efforts to have an ordinance passed to ensure such incidents don’t occur again.
“In the last few months, there has been a significant increase in the lack of awareness among drivers regarding common bus safety rules, particularly the requirement to stop as children cross the street to board their buses,” Council President Kuhn said. “The Council wants residents to know that we are addressing this issue and understand the important safety concerns that have been brought to my attention by numerous community members. I have received multiple complaints regarding the dangers posed by vehicles passing while children are crossing roads to board their school buses. This situation is extremely concerning, and we take the safety of our children very seriously.”
Kuhn continued, “In response to these concerns, we are in the process of creating an ordinance that will prohibit children from crossing any county or main municipal road to get picked up by a bus. To ensure this ordinance is well-informed and effective, we are collaborating closely with both public and private bus services, as well as the Jackson Police Traffic Safety Bureau, under the guidance of Public Safety Director Joseph Candido.”
Kuhn says they anticipate that the first reading of this ordinance will take place at the upcoming council meeting on February 27th.
“Our priority is to ensure the safety of our community’s children as they travel to and from school,” Kuhn said.
Instead of ruining every bus driver’s route to Make It work For Children to Be Picked Up on the Same Side As Bus.Why don’t we suggest a better option?Many times buses drive diagonal into oncoming traffic thereby preventing people from being able to pass. Secondly, the goal Is not to let aggressive bad angered drivers get away with what they’re doing. They must be prosecuted if every bus Should have a dash cam and send in aggressive driver. License plates to the local police who will find that Vehicle Find out who is driving it and give them a hefty fine. When enough people start talking about the finds they received for near accidents with children being run over slowly. There will be a greater awareness and people won’t do it with that plus the bus being diagonal in the road. This will help to prevent future unfortunate incidences.
Unfortunately diagonal pick up is illegal in New Jersey.
I’ve been asking the bus company for years to tell me who I could reach out to to change that law since a few of my children have almost been hit by spaced out drivers. But I get “thank you for reaching out” responses. Baruch Hashem I was there to pull them back in the nick of time.
How about Avi Schnall?
He works for the democrat party. If the Democrat party doesn’t approve of it, he’s not interested in assisting.
Fines don’t work. First offense 6 month license suspension. Second offense license revoked. Do this and the problem disappears super quick.
In all honesty, that will just leave us with license-less drivers.
Driving without a license = Jail time. People can choose to follow the law or they can be taught to fear the punishment for breaking it. The current situation of little to no enforcement and light punishments isn’t working.
I am so sorry for the impatient bus drivers the whole town should go nuts because of some overpaid bus drivers who think they own the road!
Thank you Ms Kuhn for always being so responsive to concerns !!
Lol.
Agree with @Henry. They do the diagonal thing in Brooklyn as well as dash cams.
This is as much a concern to Lakewood as in Jackson. Here’s to hoping that Lakewood copies this as well. For years I have begged the lsta to work my kids bus route so they are picked up on the right side of a very very busy street and nothing. I personally witnessed many cars zipping right through bus lights as kids ran in the street. And the funny thing? The bus actually comes back on the “right side of the street” a little later in the route but won’t pick up the kids then!
It’s not hard to work out routes this way , and as all the recent clips have shown- it’s necessary for the safety of our children. One township is not different from the other.
How about just have the cops actually give tickets for passing a bus? That would stop people from doing it when it hurts their pockets.
My suggestion is for the bus driver to cross the child
sure. let’s make the bus driver shut the bus and get off the bus by each stop and add another hour to each route
maybe the bus company should also have someone come wake up your child, dress him and give him breakfast too?
Just curious how much do we expect from parents these days?
Of all videos that I saw none of them you were able to see parents waiting there
This was my daughter actually and I was waiting outside out of this camera’s view 🙂
Up in the Fallsburg NY area the public school (Rolling V Bus Corp) busses has an adult bus aide. This is an extra adult besides the driver. This bus aide crosses the streets for students on pickup and drop off to make sure it’s safe. This actually can work if $$ is not a concern.
Search on indeed job website for “school bus aide” rolling v bus corp in fallsburg ny area to see full job description as an example
The Jackson Twp public school buses have this as well. An aide gets off by each stop and then gets back on after ensuring each child is safe. Don’t just make unnecessary laws.
I once drove in rural PA at morning pickup time behind the bus on a 2 lane highway- every single child was waiting with a parent- not such small children either. The bus came on the wrong aid of the street, the parent walked the child to the bus door. At every house (and this is a place where all cars obey bus signals). Is there a reason parents can’t do this in Lakewood/jackson?
How about you doing that?
That would be time prohibitive. Most drivers have 3 runs to 3 different schools. It would add 2-3 hours to the day. No kid wants to be on the bus for 90 to 120 minutes each way.
As a bus driver for 15 years I’ll say that, this law is insane, they’ll need twice as much buses to cover the routes, every bus will need to go both sides of the street instead of one side.
I see here several people jumping up with this genius idea, finally! Let me tell you something, the second option is that they’ll ask every mother to stand on the opposite side of their house, which is insane.
The solution is going diagonally like in Brooklyn, I don’t remember a single accident with a bus when he went diagonally.
The other solution is to pay like in Brooklyn and have more Heimishe drivers that drive with a brain…
Why is it insane for a mother to wait for their child?
When I drove a bus in Lakewood for Durham school services 15 years ago There were many roads that we were told students could not cross you had to change route some so you were on the correct side to pickup. When did that change and who changed it.
This rule is still in effect for busy streets. This ordinance is stating that every single child on every single street, including quiet streets needs to be picked up on the proper side of the street
There is a major issue with catalytic converters being stolen from cars. To address this, an ordinance needs to be passed to prohibit people from owning cars. Same logic.
Is that how you view YOUR kid’s life? Or do you not have kids?
I take it reading comprehension is not your strong suit.
In Illinois where I took drivers ed, you lose your license for 90 days if you drive past a school bus.
It wouldn’t be happening if that were the penalty here.
finally a sensible law to protect the children who ride school buses , for those advocating stopping diagonal across both lanes, it is illegal in NJ to do that !
You know what else is illegal? Passing a school bus
Absolutely and should be charged !
How about you doing that?
But why is it illegal?!?
I can imagine because if a car coming in either direction goes out of control it will t-bone the bus
Don’t change the law, just don’t give tickets like in Brooklyn, keep a closed eye
thats just foolish, either change the law or uphold the law !
Brooklyn is garbage that’s why we live here. We don’t want Brooklyn.
OHHHHHHHH!! Fuggetaboutit!!
While , this may be a good thing to implement. The reason as to why this is perhaps going to be the case in my opinion is inconsistent. Basically, there are many drivers who have no regard for the law whatsoever pass buses that are stop and letting children off. Etc. Then saying well, the bus didn’t put their stop notification on fast enough, etc. I’m not opposed to this all I’m saying is that the reason that this incorrect.How about we implement that every person who does not stop for a bus that has stopped , gets points on their license, gets a fine that they must pay that is no way to get around it. there should be a penalty and repercussions for not doing so. And for all the drivers that go around the bus and then drive off, we should have more points on their license and a bigger, fine, etc. They want to go ahead and implement this role anyway that’s fine, but it should be fair game for all.
wont have to redo all the routes as this law only pertains to county & state roads (busy streets)
Most routes go on those streets also. Ever heard of Route 9? Buses stop o Route 9 every day.
They shouldn’t! Its a recipe for DEATH
I never said they should. I am just pointing out that Boruch was incorrect.
most schools especially the larger ones have busses going both ways down route 9 its just slightly adjusting them
Lakewood Crossing Guard Wins The Prestigious ‘Double Crosser’ Award!
Longtime Lakewood crossing guard, Stan Feldstone, has won the annual ‘Double Crosser’ award, a prize that is awarded to crossing guards who excel in pairing up and doubling up with children of all ages as they cross the streets.
Lakewood mother, Elizabeth Mandelbroid, had only wonderful things to say about the 15-year veteran crossing guard.
“I would trust that honorable Double Crosser with my son’s life!” she told the Cross Street Gazette on Thursday. “Stan is incredibly trustworthy and unflinchingly loyal, he’s a Double Crosser of the highest order!”
Ms. Mandelbroid’s 9-year-old son, David, told the Cross Street Gazette: “Mr. Feldstone is an amazing crossing guard. He double crosses me all the time in an incredibly faithful and efficient manner.”
“Moreover,” David noted, “Mr. Feldstone is an honorable Double Crosser, who never snitches on the kids if they mistakingly cross the streets without his assistance.”
“Trust me,” David added, “Mr. Feldstone is about as loyal as Double Crossers come!”
I grew up in Lakewood and remember having to cross the street to wait for the bus. Why can’t kids and their parent wait on the side of the road where the bus is coming from?
I understand it’s not practical for everyone due to no sidewalks ect. But for must it perfectly safe.
What does this help if cars pass on the right in the shoulder
What does this help if cars pass on the right in the shoulder? like the the other 2 instances.
There are several retrofit stop-arm extensions available. I don’t know if the same exist for cross-arms, but at least have these installed on our buses. It’s worth spending $500 per bus to save lives.
There is another solution, to put another stop sign on the right side of the bus, it’s not possible to see that the bus stopped if you are on the right side of the bus, some drivers put up themselves flashing red lights on the door.
This will cause havoc on the routes. Kids will have stops to compensate for the time the driver needs to adjust routes. They will be crossing a lot more streets just to get to the stop. Or it will cause longer routs meaning bigger out of pocket cost.
End courtesy school busses. Let mommies drive kids to school. That will fix the school budgets and the problem of cars passing buses.
Budget shortfall is $100,000,000. Courtesy bussing is 1% of that?
The same way the law about which side of the street to stop on could be changed, the law about not parking diagonally could be changed.
Not all mother drive
Great idea. Thank you Jennifer Kuhn.
Petitioning for diagnol stopping and bus aids is a great idea as well however this is probably easier to get through on a local level.
Yes drivers should be punished more severely but 4 points isn’t nothing.
Maybe buses should be outfitted with more and brighter lights like an ambulance?