From Maryland State Police:
Maryland State Police are investigating after a public school bus with 11 children on board was sideswiped this morning in Harford County by a vehicle that failed to remain at the scene. None of the children or the driver on the bus were injured.
The preliminary investigation indicates a vehicle sideswiped the bus along the traffic circle at Philadelphia Road and Ashford Drive and left the scene. All 11 students were transported on the same bus to Church Creek Elementary School.
Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact the Bel Air Barrack at 410-879-2101.
I travel this route often in the 6am to 7am hour and the typical half asleep, half in a hurry driving is evident like everywhere else.
I watch a lot of fools who make a huge amount of effort to pass me in the two “double” lane roundabouts only to literally be 3-4 seconds of travel time up the road from where they were since there are ckusters of a dozen or so cars from the 543 and Route 40 traffic lights (depending which direction you are going).
Fucking idiots.
The “fucking idiots” are the ones who don’t understand the meaning of the “Alternate merge” signs after the roundabout. By design, both lanes are to be used to move traffic through the circle and the two lanes are to be merged zipper-style. The drivers who have no clue incorrectly treat this as if the right lane is ending, rather than giving both lanes equal priority as the traffic laws require.
Nobody gives a shit about “zipper merging” or the roundabout alternate merging.
The point was, if you’re behind 30 cars not zipper merging, don’t be the douchebag that gets in the right lane, races up to the front passing people in the roundabout and immediately coming to a halt in the merge lane with your turn signal on as no one is going to let you merge. LOL
Here is a thought…..Why don’t Maryland drivers learn how to properly navigate a traffic circle? Much like their inability to navigate a yield sign with a merge lane the traffic circle confuses them even more. Perhaps IQ level should be checked before they engineer tricky concepts like traffic circles into the roadway. Obviously MD drivers can not grasp the concept.
Who cares?
The real problem I’ve seen is at the “Holly wood” traffic circle (same stretch of road as article) is that there is very limited visibility due to the trees/shrubbery and those ugly assed “Holly wood” neighborhood signs.
Visibility isnt so much of a problem if people leaving their neighborhood would yield, and most importantly, not drive 40-50mph into the traffic circle when they know every morning there’s long lines of congested cars on Route 7.
Like I said the average IQ in Harford County is to low to have traffic circles.
The Engineer should have taken that into account
Wrong. If you can’t handle the concept of alternate merging, get back on the sidewalk where you belong
Eating Corn,
Is the roundabout really two lanes? If it is, that’s just really sloppy traffic engineering. In DC, I have literally been caught going around a two-lane traffic circle for a half-hour trying to get to the outside lane and escape. Two lane roundabouts should be outlawed.
Just yesterday, I noticed that a school bus was not able to negotiate a roundabout on S. Tollgate without crossing over the inside circle. There just wasn’t enough room for the school bus to make the turn. I can only suppose that that was done to keep the larger panel trucks off of S. Tollgate. However, traveling over the inner circle did cause the bus to lean haphazardly to the right.
Lately, I have noticed a lot of drivers in a big hurry passing me on the shoulder and otherwise try to run me out of the road as they pass. And I don’t travel under the posted speed limit.
Yes, the one mentioned in this article and the one at the auto auction are “two lanes” but with the furthermost right lane people use for turning but it’s still continuous with a merge back into a single lane road once you are out of the circle.
I’ve observed most people stick with the inner lane when traveling thru but occasionally someone will interupt a long line of traffic and try to get ahead of what everyone else is doing by using the outer most lane and then merging back over causing everyone to stop.
A lot of people at this time in the morning are rushing and miserable because they have to go to work, go to an appointment…yadda yadda..they see a school bus and they are so afraid it is going to stop – God forbid that and then the anxiety, anxiousness, nervousness and headache begins.. it is part of the morning routine and if you can’t handle it find out the school bus schedule or please drink your morning java of choice and don’t make everyone else on the road brought down in your private misery.
Yep…we’re headed for work and usually running late, anxiety for the day pulsing and the last thing you want to have happen is get stuck behind a bus. I wouldn’t so much mind it except there are many parents who hate the idea of little Johnny actually standing outside for even a moment so they drive to the bus stop and little Johnny waits in the car with them until the bus pulls up and it’s only then that the hugs and kisses start. That is bs…I shouldn’t have to wait for your family goodbye ceremony when courtesy goes two ways – I don’t show my azz for your kids around a bus and you don’t show your azz by wasting my time so that little Johnny is comforted at every conceivable moment. Bus comes at 7:40, boot your kid out to the actual bus stop at 7:38 and be ready to board the damn thing.
Thank you HCSO great job.
Great Job? What job did they do great? In fact reread the article its from Maryland State Police not HCSO. The Keystone Cops were not involved.
Love when I’m behind a bus that stops at 1 house to pick up a kid, then drives 50 feet and stops again at the very next driveway to pick up the next kid. Sidewalk or not, the 2 neighboring kids can’t meet in the middle (or pick a driveway) so the bus only has to stop once?
And fellow parents, I have news for you – your child will not melt in the rain, nor freeze to death when it’s cold so stop driving them to the bus stop. You’re not helping them to become resilient adults.
Once or twice a week in years past I would get behind a bus that would turn it’s yellow lights on, stop, red lights on, waits 15-20 seconds, closes the door and continues going.
Probably happened for +5 months.
I’m not sure what HCPS transportation take is on this. Is the bus driver supposed to ask if the student is ever riding the bus again or is it just stop there anyway, because that 1 time out of 100 days the students is there waiting and the bus drivers by will be instant Facebook complaint?
Huh….
Depending on the road, it’s not remotely safe for anyone to be walking along it, let alone a kid.
I live right on one of the major roads in Harford County and there is no shoulder with a 50 mph speed limit. No way in hell would I let my kid walk along the road just so you’re not inconvenienced.
The buses hit each stop at pretty much the same time every day. If it’s that big of an issue then get your butt out the door 5 minutes earlier so you don’t get stuck behind a bus.
I do agree about the parents who drive their kid to the bus stop and then let them just sit in the car until the bus shows up…even when the kids are in high school. By the time I was in 2nd grade I was walking to school by myself most of the time and in 4th grade I started riding the bus. Somehow even when I was only 9 years old I could manage to get myself to the bus on time by myself because my parents both worked and left the house an hour or more before I got picked up. No one else on my street got driven to the stop either, even if it was raining or cold, or whatever.
Nowhere in my post did I suggest your precious little ones walk along the road. No reason they can’t walk across the yard to the neighbor’s driveway, or as I mentioned, meet in the middle.
And if I leave 5 minutes earlier, I’ll just get stuck behind a different bus on a different road. Thanks for the creative suggestion, though.