I’m probably headed to court sometime soon. I was out and about doing my inspection thing this afternoon when I got stopped behind a school bus. The yellow flashers were on which turned to red and the stop arm came out. A driver in a minivan heading in the opposite direction decided that her schedule was more important than the safety of the kids on the bus and completely blew the bus’ red lights and stop arm. So I called it in.
About 20 minutes later, I got a visit here in the office from one of Rochelle’s finest to get my info. He had located the minivan and hauled her back to the station. On my testimony, he issued her a citation. Unfortunately for her, the witness (me) is a city employee and a former school bus driver. She claims that she’ll fight the ticket so I’ll probably be asked to come to court to testify.
Thing is, when the officer located the van, she had just picked up her kids from school and was heading home. She admitted that she had blown the lights but claims that the stop arm wasn’t out. It was from my perspective. Besides, when the red flashers come on, the stop arm automatically swings out.
Issues with children especially when something puts children at risk or in danger sort of irritates me…
Good for you, Bruce. Most people wouldn’t go through the hassle of getting involved. As a parent of two kids who ride the bus, I have a great appreciation for people like you.
I’m the provocative guy who steals BTM’s username. It’s obvious you got an ax to grind, and are too pro-children to have an unbiased view of this situation. have you looked at how bad eye witness testimony is? How many people have been wrongly convicted by eye witness testimony? How 5 people who witness an accident all see different things? Uggh!
I once killed a man I thought was assaulting a woman. Turned out they were just goofing around. !EEK!
Of course, you pressured her into making a false confession. Had she been read her rights? Inadmissable, thank god.
Just like the railroad crossing arms are SUPPOSED to come down when the lights flash and the train is coming. Mechanical failures happen all too often, tragically. If you ever get a speeding ticket based on a radar detector, ask when the device was last calibrated. They are often wrong, too.
Sometimes the mechanical device that brings the arm down with the lights FAILS, as it may have in this case.
Of course, and one so irritated and emotional will make an excellent witness to help this woman beat the charge, if she is willing to pay for the inconvenience you caused her.
Hey buddy, did she KILL anyone? Now she’s got points on her license, increased insurance, cannot feed her kids–it’s the kids that suffer, Yoops. When she commmits a suicide and all her kids are left orphaned becasue of you, I hope you still feel so self-righteous.
I’m sure Billy would disagree, but I’ve locked him out.
Really, no ax to grind, I hold no grudges or unrelenting anger toward anything or anyone. I’m actually pretty easy to get along with and am too ADD to sit still in one bout of anger for very long. But when it comes to attacking the care and safety children, I admit that a certain ire arises that is difficult to beat down.
I know of the eye-witness syndrome but in this case its sort of difficult to “look at how bad eye witness testimony is” because I’m the eye-witness. I can’t see myself from outside-in. In this case, I performed my civic duty and then the situation moved beyond my control. If this case comes to further civic duty, then I’ll perform and then move on.
Billy’sLiberalUserNameHighjacker, what did you do with the Billy that we’ve all grown to know and love? Please bring him back.
So you’ve also admitted in public forum to have an attentional deficit!!!
Will you hide this fact from the Court and allow them to throw her away forever, orphaning her children? Or will you fess up about your KNOWN LIMITATIONS as a witness. Were you wearing your glasses? Was the sun in your eyes? Was music blasting on the radio. Was anything else on your mind? How much input can an ADD person take? Had you taken your Ritalin? You know you have ADD yet you refuse to comply with treatment, and you DRIVE??!!! I’m calling the cops! You are an accident waiting to happen.
Sure it’s hard to come to terms with the fact that you cannot believe your own eyes. But sometimes we just have to do the right thing.
Ethical conduct is doing the right thing even when it costs more to do so. Swallow your pride. We know you meant well, but a bigger man would admit his doubts.
Don’t know. I reported then went back to work. I doubt there was an arrest. From what I heard, it was a simple citation.
As a mechanical engineer, I must disagree here. There is no such thing as mechanical failure. It’s always operator error.
See post #11.
And should she have plowed into five children crossing the street, who suffers then? In the words of a great Vulcan, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
Here, Billy, Billy, Billy. Come out, come out wherever you are!
…oh, and forgot to mention. The offender was the daughter-in-law of a major home-building contractor here in town. Here comes the conflicts in interest. In my position as a building inspector, am I out to put the silent screws on our contractors through the harassment of their families? This could be good.
Please be more careful, Miss Ayelery needs her beauty sleep and must not be disturbed for common errors as this. Did you mean “deer” story?
In case you did, at the risk of my witness-stand credibility, it’s been suggested that, since “you get no pay for your court appearance, you should try to make a deal to get something wiped off YOUR license in exchange for you testimony.” I have to admit that I do have a little smudge on my record that I could stand to have expunged. Many years ago now, I was deer hunting with an antlerless only permit. The doe came out of the late afternoon musk just before the end of shooting hours. I studied it through binoculars as it meandered toward shooting range. Once within range, I dropped it on the first shot. But by time I had gathered up my things and approached the prize, it had grown a set of four-point antlers. Making a long story short, I ended up going to court and paying a fine for a class III misdemeanor. There’s a lot more fun stuff to the story though that probably doesn’t belong here.
Now she’s got points on her license, increased insurance, cannot feed her kids–it’s the kids that suffer, Yoops. When she commmits a suicide and all her kids are left orphaned becasue of you, I hope you still feel so self-righteous.