Q I thought you would like this story. My family lives in a small North Bay town where my youngest child is a high school senior who rides the bus to school. The bus stop is near a busy intersection in a residential area near an elementary school and a middle school. Traffic is always heavy in the morning, with parents dropping off kids and commuters leaving for work. There have been numerous close calls between cars and young pedestrians and my daughter hates crossing the street here.

Rick Thein

A Kids, schools, a busy intersection. After spending Wednesday morning with police at a similar location in San Jose, you have my attention.

Q Last week, as she came to the intersection, she noticed a police cruiser slowing. Feeling safe, she stepped off the curb and proceeded to cross in front of the police car at the four-way stop. As she got in front of the grill of the car, she realized he wasn’t stopping! He was turning right and rolling the stop! My daughter jumped forward and the cop just missed her by inches. Evidently, he was looking to the left and hadn’t seen her crossing in front of him.

Rick Thein

A Not good, not good at all. But the story doesn’t end there.

Q Suddenly, my daughter heard the roar of a motorcycle as a cop, who was watching the intersection at the time, pulled over his fellow police officer.

Rick Thein

A Really?

Q Red and blue lights, siren blaring, the works. The cop in the car immediately pulled over and as the motor cop got off his bike, he said: “Dave, you nearly hit that young lady over there. I’m gonna have to cite you. You left me no choice, you’re getting a ticket!”

Rick Thein

A Whoa!

Q The kids waiting for the bus LOVED it. After citing the other cop, the motorcycle cop returned to his place in front of the bus stop. As he did, he told my daughter he couldn’t let his fellow officer get away with driving like that and that cops aren’t above the law. I think we need more cops like this one. He’s OK in my book.

Rick Thein

A Mine, too!

Q Awesome story about police nailing speeders and other driving miscreants in school zones. Hopefully, this will become a more consistent and ongoing enforcement campaign that will also be adopted by other municipalities in the Bay Area. I pass by Buchser Middle School on Washington Street in Santa Clara on my way to work, and have witnessed some really bad behavior behind the wheel in the school zone.

John Armstrong

Boulder Creek

A The school-zone crackdown is dubbed Operation Safe Passage and happens throughout the state, although not always the same week.

Q I was saddened by the comment in your article that hundreds of tickets are being issued this week in school zones. It should be thousands of tickets issued! “… I was ecstatic to see your article about the school-zone crackdown. I don’t understand parents who are angry. Wouldn’t they want the highest safety standards for their own kids? If they cracked down at all schools, they could solve San Jose’s huge deficit! “… I just wanted to say thank you to the officers who were operating near Morrill Middle School in San Jose this week. I saw about 8 officers on motorcycles picking off school-zone scofflaws one by one. Bravo! Now if they could visit Dartmouth Middle on Blossom Hill Road.

Ron Ware, Norm M., Craig Tomasello and many more

A Here is how to complain in San Jose: Go to www.sjpd.org and then to “Traffic Enforcement Unit” on the left side of the page. Click on the “Request for Enforcement” link and fill out the form that appears. The more specific the complaint, the better. For enforcement requests in other areas, you can usually find a way to contact police through your city’s home page.

Q Can police ticket people who park their cars in the pull-through drop-off area at a school and leave them there unoccupied?

Jeff Masnaghetti

A If the parking area is on school property, police say they have no jurisdiction except for handicapped parking violations.

Have a gripe, minor annoyance or major problem with transportation? Contact Gary Richards at mrroadshow@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5335. The fax number is 408-288-8060.