In Massachusetts, a fast-acting mother is being credited with saving a sidewalk full of children from a runaway bus. Lorie Aliano had just dropped off her son at elementary school for a class trip to the zoo. That was when she looked up and spotted an empty bus rolling down a driveway and heading towards the children. So she jumped into the bus, sat down in the driver’s seat, and stomped on the middle pedal . . . which she hoped was the brake. The bus came to a stop against the curb just feet away from where children were gathering. “She is a hero,” said school principal Richard Beshara. “I don’t think the average person would do what she did.” (The Week, 6-25-2010, p. 2)