This company has many of the worst school bus drivers I have ever seen on the roads. I am not sure what type of training or qualifications they have, but that is completely irrelevant if they do not apply these practices while they are driving without supervision.
Time after time, I continuously observe West Point Tours school bus drivers abusing their red lights. It has become so extreme that my friends and I now refer to them as "emergency buses."
However, this is no joking matter. I routinely observe these bus drivers turning on their overhead red lights in order to stop traffic, turning in front of the stopped traffic, and turning their lights back off.
This last school year, I observed a bus leave their lot on Route 94, turn on their yellow caution lights at the Five Corners to stop traffic, and make a left turn through a red left arrow.
Last spring, I observed another bus coming from their lot and driving northbound on Route 94 remain in the straight lane to continue on 94, continue past all of the cars stopped in the left lane (with a red left arrow) which were waiting to turn onto Route 300, and proceed to turn left onto Route 300 from the right lane. In essence, the bus passed all of the traffic on the right, made a left turn against the arrow, and made the left turn from the right lane.
Last winter, I was driving north on Windsor Highway when a southbound bus was stopped waiting to make a left turn onto Willow Lane. I had to stop short when the bus driver abruptly turned on their overhead yellow lights and red lights. Once all traffic was stopped, the emergency bus driver made a left hand turn onto Willow Lane, turned the lights off, and continued on his/her merry way. Where was the emergency s/he was responding to? Otherwise, this was illegal.
New York State Vehicle & Traffic Law, as well as OSHA standards, mandate that emergency vehicles must have audible warning devices (ie, siren and electric horn or air horn), and must have these devices turned on at all times while driving with red lights on. The VTL also lists emergency vehicles - and school buses are not on the list. They have no authority to use their red lights and stop traffic to get through intersections faster, and definitely have no authority to use their red/yellow lights to proceed through red traffic lights.
Last winter, I was driving eastbound on Union Avenue past Heritage Junior High with moderate, mid-afternoon traffic flow when I saw traffic in front of me swerving into the oncoming lane of traffic. A West Point Tours bus had missed the entrance to HJH and was backing up Union Avenue against traffic (reversing westbound up Union Ave, in the eastbound lane), expecting all of the traffic to stop. However, traffic did not "comply" and veered around this bus backing through traffic. Growing increasingly fed up with these reckless West Point Tours bus drivers, I quickly pulled to the side of the road and used my phone to videotape it.
Many of these buses also barrel through the side neighborhood streets. My street has a 30 mph speed limit. Countless times, they have gone flying by kicking up dust. I have been behind West Point Tours buses in my neighborhood and they often leave me in the dust, despite me doing 25-30 mph in a 30 mph zone. They didn't have their emergency lights on...so I'm assuming the emergencies they were responding to couldn't have been too serious. read more
