I wrote it because it is the next step after having presented my concerns to the company I work for and the PPS superintendent's office and being told to stop bringing this to their attention.
You know, we can only put up with so much bullshit. My bullshit meter is filled up after working for this outfit now almost two school years. And the school district is complacent in their enforcing or working with the city to prevent the abuses that occur at the school zones with the city. I've talked to, written letters and sent pictures of the bus zones. If they refuse to act, there is the PB, City Council transportation member who used to be the now mayor and the newspapers of course, but I hesitate to bring issues of this nature there.
The school district doesn't want to piss off the parents or students, but safety neglected does more than piss people off. An avoidable accident occurs and the blame finger starts pointing. If it has anything at all to do with a driver of a bus, we are are the biggest targets. Never mind that the school or the district or the company didn't follow their own rules, we are expendable as far as they are concerned. There are thousands of people waiting to take our places, hungry to work and if there is a reason, we will be gone and perhaps prosecuted as well.
Of course, that is just projecting one scenerio. There are many to consider.
Just the other day, Friday, one of the busiest days of the week, I saw a student all excited to be going somewhere that her ride a private vehicle double parked in the traffic lane when attempting to enter the car fell flat on the ground. Her friend was very concerned because the girl that fell wasn't getting up. At that time there was a double tanker gasoline truck behind them that was tired of waiting and he crossed the double yellow line at an intersection with a crosswalk to pass the car. What are these people thinking? Everyone of the vehicles at that intersection was violating one traffic law or another.
The school district thinks their traffic plan is ok and I disagree. With my email and picture to the PB I am attempting to bring serious issues to someone who has the authority to take some action. I'm just hoping they send out an unmarked car to sit across the street to observe for a couple of days to decide if my issues have validity. If I'm concerned, there must be others. Here is just one of several trucks pulling onto NW Salmon at the bus loading zone because they can't drive through the tunnel on 26 west bound because of a fire danger, so they drive by the school to drive over the hill the tunnel goes through in order to get to the other side and apparently this is the most drivable route. Of course, one might think that 1000 or so of Portland's high school students don't deserve the same considerations as people driving through a tunnel, but I certainly think there is grave concern.
I think it's a federal regulation that any commercial vehicle hauling hazmat material cannot pass through any type of tunnel. of course, those drivers are going to try to find the shortest and easiest route to get back on track. Any municipality can enact truck route zones where commercial vehicles are only allowed on certain, posted streets and if caught on a restricted route, they get pulled over and get a hefty ticket. They have those here. The only qualifier is that the city must make SOME kind of route accessible to get through the city.
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