School Buses - Really???

So, this morning as I waved to my son as his bus pulled away, I started thinking about what an odd concept the school bus is.  I mean, we live in an age where our kids have to sit in the back of our cars, propped up on a booster seat and strapped in by, at a minimum, a lap and shoulder belt, and at most a 5-point harness.  I know moms whose kids are in 2nd grade still using the 5-pointer.  We teach them that they have to behave quietly in the car so that the driver does not have a car accident.  And we  teach our kids not, under any circumstances, to get into a stranger's car.

Yet, every morning, a big yellow bus comes roaring to a stop in front of us, driven by a person whose past and present lifestyle is a complete mystery to us, and we scoot our kids in line to climb aboard.  We actually willingly place them in a vehicle, with a stranger, where they will sit unrestricted by a seatbelt, possibly hanging into the aisle a few feet from a giant glass windshield, often standing, yelling, fooling around.  We put them on a bus where the driver will spend part of his/her time watching the road, part of her time staring into a big rear view mirror screaming at 30 or so kids that are behaving like a barrel full of monkeys, distracting the driver to no end.

This is particularly ironic if you are an overprotective mom, like myself.  I do not let my kids get into a car with anyone that I have do not have a complete resume on - job, family, personality, etc.  And I have to know the driver very well personally to even consider placing my child in their car.  It took years for me just to trust family members to drive my kids, and even then I gave them endless instructions as to how to properly buckle my kids into their seats!  I can count on one hand the number of people allowed to drive my kids.  Yet I actually let them go each morning with anyone who shows up at the bus stop sitting behind the wheel of a giant yellow vehicle!

I remember my college roommate telling me that in grade school her bus driver would pull off of the route, tell all of the kids to put their heads down below the windows, and exit the bus for a few minutes.  Was he selling drugs?  Buying drugs? Grabbing a quick kiss from his girlfriend?  Who knows?  All we know about the stranger driving the bus is that they have passed a basic security clearance.  However, criminal and sex abuse checks mean nothing to my paranoid mind other than the person has not been caught doing anything bad, not that they do not actually do anything bad.

I guess the best we can do is talk to other moms and go with our gut.  My son's first day of school, I stood at the bus stop terrified, preparing excuses in my head that I would tell the bus driver if the doors opened and I did not like the looks of him/her and would not put my son on the bus.  Luckily, my bus driver turned out to be a good one, although, on paper, she was not at all someone I would ordinarily entrust my child to.  She wears a baseball cap with a diamond-studded skull on it, and she moonlights at a Harley-Davidson shop.  But after talking to her every morning and afternoon and talking to other moms in the area who have known her for years, it turned out that, luckily for us, she too is a mom, as well as a caring, wonderful person with a spotless driving record.  Phew!

What has your experience with school bus drivers been (either your own or your childrens')? Any horror stories?  Good stories?  Have you ever taken one look at the driver and pulled your kid off of the bus?  Please share with the rest of us!