There is no defense for breaking the law to pass a school bus with displayed stop indicators. However there is a blatant provocation committed by the culture surrounding discipline and the drivers ("School bus danger ahead," Sept. 13).
Children are not taught to "think of others" and get to and onto the bus quickly. I have seen a string of up to eight children, already late to the bus stop, saunter to the loading point. This adds one to two minutes for that loading while up to six or eight cars are stopped. Seven cars for two minutes represents 14 "man minutes," or a quarter of an hour of productivity. Four such stops takes one man hour from people's productivity. All because children are not enjoined to think of the people they are keeping waiting and to be on time and courteous.
Then the bus driver moves to the next stop, not allowing the backed-up traffic time to pass while the bus is not loading. If the driver would pull to the shoulder, the backed-up traffic could pass safely and drivers would not experience the frustration that goads them into passing while the stop signs are out and flashing.
A little common sense and courtesy would go a long way toward solving these drivers' frustration and the children's safety.
Bruce Copeland, Columbia