Doofus lady.

Yes, I'm being nice.  Read on and you'll understand the post title.

This morning, it was storming.  We had lightning.  We had thunder.  We had rain.  It wasn't torrential, so that wasn't an issue.  The lightning seemed to subside and I thought that we would be okay walking to the bus stop.  K-, having listened to my words in the past (hooray) said, "Mom, it is thundering.  When you have thunder, you have lightning."  I've taught her to treat thunder just like lightning, because you just never know.  Her case seemed reasonable enough.  I did the car shuffle as she put her shoes on and we drove the two driveways down to the bus stop. 

By the way, we were the third car to do that.

We live on a three block street.  The middle block is where the kids pick up the bus.  Two cars were parked and waiting with their children.  They were pointed towards the intersection.  I was parked on the opposite side with the back of my car facing the intersection.  That left a 1 car alley between the bus stop parent's cars for additional vehicles to get through.  I waited until I saw the flashing bus lights stop reflecting off of a neighbors gutter, then gave K- and E- the okay to proceed to the stop.  I saw a car coming down the road.  K- saw it, too and stopped.  At this point, the bus had proceeded into the intersection and was blocking the intersection about 2/3 of the way. 

The car kept coming towards the intersection.  K- was still standing next to the car, her door still partially open as she was afraid to step away enough to shut it and to proceed.

She was trapped, the intersection blocked by bus, a car coming at her and NOT stopping.  I popped my car door open thinking that perhaps that would stop the car. 

The car kept coming.

Finally, I opened my car door all the way and stuck my STOP! hand out at her.  She stopped, allowed K- and E- to cross (she couldn't have gone anywhere anyhow) and then proceeded towards the intersection.

She then skinnied in around the backside of the bus and proceeded to wiggle around it and keep on with her left hand turn.  The bus was pointed the opposite way, so it wasn't like she drove down alongside the bus, but couldn't she have waited? 

It happens at that intersection all the time. 

It is not a busy intersection. 

It is an intersection off the busy street and intersecting only a secondary and tertiary road. 

My child and E- safely entered the bus, but I was miffed to say the least.  The other mom there was miffed, as well.  My friend said she would have gone after them, but I said that I had no way to be able to. 

I do believe that an e-mail to the local police might be in order.  Cars need to wait for the bus to clear the intersection before proceeding.  It has become an issue.  It is an issue that needs to be nipped in the bud.

Thoughts?

ETA:  I spent some time speaking with the city police traffic department and then they referred me to the city school bus garage.  The lady in charge of the bus garage listened to my situation and told me that part of the problem is that the bus is not supposed to be blocking the intersection.  An easy fix to the situation is to have the bus driver pick the kids up on the corner just across the street.  It's just a hop and a skip further, then the traffic has to obey the lights.  This way, the children will be able to cross in front of the bus, rather than waiting until after the bus pulls away.  Hopefully, this will resolve the issues.  I'm sure that will put a bit of a crink into Doofus Lady's britches when she finds out that she can't cut across any longer.  Ooo, and she may consider just going down to the other end of the block and turning at the traffic light.