Putting safety first

By Sean Barron

PUTTING SAFETY FIRST

It’s environmentally friendly to ride the bus, a school official said.

WARREN — If you board some of the city school district’s 34 buses, you will likely notice many obvious features such as high seats and safety rules conspicuously placed.

What may not jump out at you, however, are the four cameras, two hard drives and other covert equipment — all of which operate with safety as a top priority.

Bus safety was the main topic at a news conference Monday in a pupil TV network studio at Warren G. Harding High School on Elm Road Northeast. The school hosted the event that tied in with the 42nd annual School Bus Safety Week, a nationwide program that runs through Friday.

The idea, which is supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was created in 1966 to educate pupils, parents and the public about school bus safety as well as to enhance the safety of the nation’s youngsters who ride buses to and from school. It’s also designed to recognize the work of school transportation professionals, especially drivers.

This year’s theme, “Stop on Red, Kids Ahead,” encourages motorists and pupils to be more aware of one another, noted schools Superintendent Kathryn Hellweg.

It’s about eight times safer to transport a pupil to school by bus than to have a family member drive the youngster, Hellweg said. Loading and unloading pupils is the most dangerous part of bus operations, largely because some drivers don’t see youngsters disembarking, and others simply don’t want to stop, she said.

Those who ride the bus should look both ways for cars before stepping off; walk in front of the bus, never behind it; stay in a safe place while waiting to be picked up; and look for the flashing red lights before boarding, Hellweg advised.

Over the past three years, the district has equipped its fleet with digital recorders, global positioning systems and hazard maps to monitor all activities on the vehicles and to allow school officials to keep track of the buses’ locations, the superintendent noted. The maps, among other things, help identify dangerous roads, where sexual predators live and other locations to avoid for bus stops, she added.

All drivers have cellular phones to easily reach emergency personnel, and transportation staff receive training in areas such as pupil behavior management, Hellweg said.

In addition to being safer on average than vehicles, school buses “save lives, energy and the environment,” noted Robert L. Faulkner Sr., school board president.

A bus also saves wear and tear on roads by replacing several dozen cars that otherwise would have taken the same number of youngsters to and from school, Faulkner noted. Improved emissions controls make buses better for the environment, he explained.

An average of 20 school bus fatalities occur nationally each year, whereas the number of youngsters killed annually who go to school via other means is around 800, Faulkner noted.

Every five years, a national safety group that consists, in part, of delegates from each state meets to look at ways to improve bus safety, said Terry Thomas, president of Youngstown-based Community Busing Services Inc. Since the 1960s, a variety of national and state standards have been passed to make the vehicles safer and more cost efficient to operate, Thomas pointed out.

Nevertheless, no system is foolproof, and the district, like elsewhere, occasionally has drivers who see the flashing red lights but refuse to stop. Such “flasher violations” are sent to the local police department, which conducts its own investigation, said David Osborne, the district’s transportation manager.

Bus drivers should try to get a good description of the driver as well as the license plate number, Osborne noted, adding that drivers on a divided highway don‘t have to stop.

“It’s in the same category as speeding through a 20 mph zone during certain school hours,” he added.