A Halloween I’ll Never Forget

I t might seem a bit early to talk about Halloween, though some supermar- kets and stores are already in the spirit for the scary event with displays and candy.

But a radio news item last week reminded me of an incident that happened on Halloween some years ago when I walked a much- younger Niko (our son) to the school bus.

First, I have to explain this happened on Bainbridge Island, where motorists tend to be quite polite, except perhaps when it comes to getting to the Seattle-bound ferry on time.

Niko, who was all dressed up as Hell Boy with his face painted red, his goolie horns and his (fake) leather trench coat, and I were standing on the grassy shoulder watch- ing the bus come down our hilly street.

As it came closer and slowed down for us, its top red warning lights start- ed flashing and the driver pushed out the stop sign. Just then, I noticed that an SUV was trailing close be- hind the bus full of kids and what happened next was an absolute shock to me.

The SUV slowed at first. But then, as Niko was just boarding the bus, the vehicle turned into the oncoming lane aide the bus and passed it, speeding up a side arterial in the direction of the island's biggest town (and ferry dock) and leaving us in its wake and in utter disbelief.

Not once in my life had I seen this happen: someone breaking such a sacred, basic and no-brainer safety law and taking the risk of a child, my child, getting into his or her path. I was stunned, but not too stunned to catch his license plate and pass it along to the driver, who was equally shocked and appalled. He turned the driver in and I later heard the scuflaw was fined heavily for his violation. Even then, I wondered if it was really worth an injury or a life to catch the ferry for this guy.

The incident came back to me in all its vivid detail when I heard a report on the radio citing a one-day survey in Washington state in which 3,588 bus driv- ers participated as part of a 29-state effort to record bus passing violations.

If our Halloween incident floored you, you may want to sit down before I share the results with you. Ready? On a single day, May 1, 2013, the same bus drivers men- tioned above reported 1,523 incidents in which motorists passed a bus stopped to pick up children on their way to school.

The total for the 29 states was 85,279. On a single day, more than 1,500 kids in Washing- ton and more than 85,000 kids nationwide could have been injured or killed. Just think what these numbers look like for a whole year. It's enough to blow your mind.

Now are you ready for the most disturbing outcome of the survey? According to Randy Dorn, the state's superintendent of public instruction, there were 32 instances of motorists passing the bus ON THE RIGHT, the side on which students enter the bus.

"Passing stopped school buses remains a serious problem," Dorn said in pre- pared statement releasing the survey results. "Every violation represents a potential accident and potential injury to a student."

I wholeheartedly agree and I'm also on the same page with Dorn about the best way to try to catch these boneheads who should have their license revoked, per- manently.

"Legislation was passed in 2011 that gave districts the authority to place cameras in buses so that pictures can be taken of the violators and they can be ticketed," he said. "I urge districts to look into whether installing the cameras is the right thing for that community."

If we aren't already do- ing that in the Touchet Val- ley, what are we waiting for?