It is time for us all to take responsibility for our children’s safety, and work as a community to put the needs of everyone else ahead of our own.

Here are a few suggestions:

1) Reduce/combine the bus stops along the routes. This will shorten route times making it better for the kids and reduce congestion and driver’s frustration. It requires neighborhoods and blocks to come together as teams and parents to take turns escorting/chaperoning the kids as they walk to and wait at a stop further from their homes than the nearest corner, crossing the side streets, etc. We are all in this together and even though this idea is inconvenient for parents, we can’t just think of ourselves. This goes for the return trip also, meeting them at bus stops to walk home. In any weather. Show our kids we CARE about their safety ahead of our own convenience.

2) Education and enforcement:

2a) Lakewood residents must own up to their bad driving habits – no excuses for being selfish and inconsiderate on the road. We should have localized community gatherings where each driving resident receives a road safety manual, and signs their name that they have read and agree to abide by the road safety laws and rules about how to treat school busses. Common sense CAN be taught (my parents taught me as a driver that if I see a ball in the road I should expect a child running after it). Post the list of signatories in a way that it’s obvious if one did not sign. Don’t make it punitive – sell the idea as a positive step – “We are PROUD to be a Safe Driving Community.” Have neighborhood “gaboyim” whom everyone agrees upon, who can as a mentch, be allowed speak privately and with derech eretz to aggressive neighbor drivers in the name of the neighbors, or to follow thru with specific complaints. Since it’s pekuach nefesh, we all should understand and accept the mussar.

2b) Just like communities post “Drug-free School Zone” signs, “Bully-Free School Zone” signs, our town should post signs that declare no tolerance for bad or dangerous driving that endangers our kids, especially school bused children.

2c) Tell drivers we mean business. No tolerance means that if you are caught illegally passing a school bus, you pay a hefty fine AND serve time (even if one or two days). Install dash and rear cams on school busses.

3a) I am embarrassed that drivers are so untrustworthy that the busses have to maneuver themselves to block traffic because the signs and lights are not enough. With Education and Enforcement, eventually the busses will not have to do that. Technically they should not have to.

3b) When a bus stops at a corner and does not enter the intersection, even good drivers assume the stop sign is only meant for those needing to pass the bus (either oncoming or from behind). Those driving in the cross street or avenue pay little attention, or can not notice the bus because the lights are on the other street and not in front of them. But even though the safety arm in front of the bus remains in the side street. really the children may need to cross to ANY of those 4 corners to get home. For now the busses have no choice but to enter the intersection to stop all traffic in 4 directions. But perhaps there can eventually be more noticeable lights on the busses, or “Caution – School Bus Stop” signs on the corners with flashing lights that can be triggered electronically by the bus drivers as they approach the intersection. Educate drivers or change the law to be that All Traffic in All Directions must stop until the bus begins moving again.

4) In a perfect world of wide streets and less traffic congestion it would be wonderful to have primary and kindergarten kids picked up by their door and on their own side of the street. With tens of thousands of students being bussed every day in this town, and with the way communities have been infra-structured, I wonder if this is still possible for everyone. For schools that have separate “primary” busses for the early return trip home, parents will have to “walk-pool” from the bus stop in suggestion #1 for their little children as well. “Specialty bussing” is costing the taxpayer too much, congesting the roads, and making enemies instead of comrades out of Seniors and other segments of our town.

5) Lakewood has grown so large, B”H and with tens of thousands of children going to so many different schools, it may be very hard to institute a bus system of generic neighborhood “routes” that drop kids off school by school. There must of course be separate busses for boys and girls. But I would love to see if a task force of reps from each school could figure out a way to make it work. Why should one neighborhood bus stop with 10-20 kids need 8 different busses from 8 different schools to stop at that corner?!

6) I applaud the bus drivers who wait until all traffic is stopped in all directions before letting the kids on or off the bus. I see that most also wait until the kids are ‘on the curb” and off the street before leaving. But I also see kids on their own crossing the side streets or avenues AFTER the bus has left. Perhaps the drivers can be familiar which way each child has to go, and wait a few seconds longer for the child to reach THEIR corner or sidewalk.

7) I like the comments about adult bus monitors, trained to stop bullying, perhaps also assisting the bus driver with watching the kids to and from the bus.

8) Last, replace those disgusting “Pray for Me – I Drive in Lakewood” bumper stickers – such a chillul Hashem! – and replace them with POSITIVE reinforcement: “I am PROUD to be a Safe Driver.” Perhaps it would be harder to drive selfishly if that was on your car.

Thank you for reading and considering these suggestions.