Kudos to Boundary County bus driver
Kudos to the bus driver of bus No. 13. Her name is Diane Linnemeyer.
When one early morning pickup of children almost became tragic, Diane, the bus driver of No. 13, executed safety implements to save lives.
On Tuesday, April 15, bus No. 13 approached a regular bus stop on Highway 2 east at Moyie Spring putting on her yellow hazard lights several hundred feet before the stop. At the stop, she put out the stop sign and turned on her red stop lights directing traffic as all busses do.
That is when she noticed a county deputy sheriff vehicle coming toward her. She noticed, along with my child, that the officer driving did speed up. He then put on his overhead emergency lights.
Diane had to think fast at that moment and she took action, making sure she made eye contact with my daughter. She held up her hand into a stop signal as to be sure my daughter would not start crossing the road.
As the police officer sped up, he drove right through the bus’ stop signal and lights at a high rate of speed, thus just missing running over my daughter.
As the noise of the speeding-up police vehicle caught the attention of my daughter, she looked to her left to witness the officer’s vehicle bearing down on her rapidly.
She then did not move toward the bus, noticing it was not safe and being alert to the safety procedures the bus driver has constantly practiced over the years with all of her passengers. My daughter made eye contact with the bus driver and noticed that the bus driver’s hand was held up in a stop type signal so she did not cross the highway.
After the police vehicle blew through the stop sign and signals of the school bus, both the bus driver and my daughter were temporarily in shock, but did proceed with the pickup with caution.
If it weren’t for said safety procedures and the noticing of the police vehicle speeding up, there would have been a very tragic accident on that early April morning.
A big thanks goes to the Diane. By your safety practices, you saved possibly many lives that morning, my daughter for one, several school children within the bus and the very careless police officer, who ran your stop signals and sign.
Diane should be recognized by this community as a hero. She will always be a hero in my and my wife’s eyes.
This near mishap goes to show that there there is no emergency worth the taking of young lives such as our children. When you see a school bus, pay close attention to it. Slow down in its presence because it is probably going to stop to pick up your or my children and all of our future.
The stopping of a school bus is the number one important emergency in our lives today.
Wes Raynor
Moyie Springs