No, these are not games that Irish kids play. They are stupid things bus and motorcoach passengers sometimes do, and things that their drivers need to watch out for.
Patsy is my term for slapping or punching the side of the bus as it goes by. Footsie is my term for sticking your foot underneath the front or rear tire. Sometimes, footsie occurs as a result of patsy.
A domestic manufacturer named Robotronics produces a clever teaching tool named Buster the School Bus, along with two cousins – Barney the Type D School Bus, and Toby the Transit Bus. These yard-long, toy-like, over-simplified plastic models of buses are designed and programmed to teach schoolchildren about the dangers of schoolbuses and transit buses – particularly with respect to crossing and wheel crushes. I have always appreciated the value of these products, and have been disappointed by their underutilization by the pupil transportation community. But I have also taken issue with the products' designers. For my money, when toddlers or elementary school kids touch the passenger-friendly tires, I would like to see them receive a low-voltage shock. When they step behind Buster or Barney, or in front of Toby, I would like some horn make their eardrums throb. Many pupil transportation professionals consider these opinions somewhat overboard. Yet my forensic portfolio swells with lawsuits involving not only crossing and wheel crush accidents, but episodes of footsie and patsy:
Bus and motorcoach passengers need to block out the cheerful lessons provided by Buster the Backpatter, and pay some mindful attention to those nasty tires. The victims' attorneys are almost certain to argue that their clients' poor judgment was reasonably foreseeable, even if it was patently foolish. Depending on the harshness of the legal environment, this argument can be deafening: In Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and one other state, if the victim was even one percent at fault, the defendants or co-defendants walk away Scott-free. But in many other states, the victim must be 51 percent at fault for the other parties to walk away. In still others, the jury simply “slices the pie,” allocating the damages against the various parties as it chooses.
Even when the tires miss the passengers' feet, punching or smacking the bus is a profoundly stupid act. However, it is also an act that the bus driver can usually see unfolding, particularly by scanning the curb-side, exterior, rear-view mirrors:
In my forensic work, I have often been critical of attorneys who zealously follow the “KISS” principle: “Keep it simple, stupid!” This only works when the case actually is simple. When it is not, practicing this principle usually translates into a loss.
In truth, some cases really are simple. While I think more highly of juries than most attorneys for whom I've worked, even the dumbest juror understands concepts like stopping a bus when a pedestrian steps into the roadway in front of it. And even motorists who rarely use their automobiles' mirrors grasp the importance of a bus or motorcoach driver glancing into his or her large mirrors as the large bus or coach pulls away from a stop.
My nitpicking aside, Buster, Barney and Toby were designed for children. Studies show that below age 13 (and particularly below age 10), children do not possess the skills, as a developmental matter, to cross a street. However, three of the four victims cited above were full-grown adults.
Stupid is as stupid does. But transporting stupid passengers is hardly a rarity. When one of them makes a poor decision, most state courts consider it the duty of a “common carrier” and its driver to exercise the highest degree of care. Failing to spot a pedestrian in the “danger zone” alongside the bus, or failing to respond to the sounds of a passenger screaming and pounding the bus, generally falls below this duty or standard.
The Statue of Liberty does not proclaim, “Send us your acrobats, your gymnasts, your highly-skilled intelligentsia, because riding on a bus in America is tricky and dangerous.” Bus riders need not be rocket scientists or brain surgeons. Particularly with the promulgation of the ADA, bus and coach passengers need merely breathe. When these huddled masses step, cycle or wheel themselves alongside or in front of your bus or coach, much less when they assault it, beware: When a bus or coach touches someone, he or she may be killed or maimed. But the bus driver and his employer will turn into the real patsy when the U.S. legal system attaches its tentacles to them and their insurance carrier.
The admonition, “Stop, look and listen” is not applicable only to kids. Apart from children, the individuals who need to understand this message the most are drivers. Otherwise, the larger the vehicle, the greater the responsibility. As with safety, when it comes to liability, mass is everything.