It's the Cell Phone's Fault!!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by LCanal

It was drummed into us both as youngsters and as "guardians" to wait until the bus has gone before attempting to cross as a stopped bus does not allow a clear view of the traffic and that drivers could not see us if we were hidden behind a vehicle. LCanal

In the US when the bus stops to load/unload, the flashing red lights come on and all traffic stops in both directions. The driver won't shut off the lights allowing traffic to move until any kid they know is going to cross the street has done so.
You make a good point that no matter how much you drum into the kid to look both ways, they get complacent about traffic when the bus is still there. Why bother looking when the traffic is always stopped when they cross.
In this case it was the stupid womans fault but I wonder if the kid even saw her?
I've noticed in my area the bus drivers pulling across the street, effectively blocking all lanes when they're discharging more than 1 or 2 kids.

[BigV]

situation:

I am traveling north on main arterial, two lanes each direction, approaching intersection with smaller street, one way, west. Driver of other car desires to turn left, south, across two northbound lanes of traffic. Other driver rolls stop sign, creeps creeps creeps out looking NORTH seeking his place in southbound traffic. I can see this fine since I am looking in the same direction I'm traveling. Other driver is not, but gives me an excellent view of the left rear quarter of his head. I would normally be able to see his ear from our relative positions, but since it was covered by his cell phone, which in turn was covered by his left hand, I can only presume an ear was actually present.

When I alerted him to the danger of driving into the path of oncoming traffic without looking with a brief double tap on the horn, I must have interrupted an important part of his call, because he did actually turn to face my direction. I knew it was an important call because he didn't take the phone from his ear as he flipped me off with his right hand during his southbound left turn.

Hang up and drive. Dick.