Change in American Bussing: Increases the Safety of Students
Change in American Bussing: Increases the Safety of Students
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By Janice Godshalk
Bussing was invented almost 100 years ago. However, many people are left wondering if buses are a safe method of transportation for children across the nation.
Nolan Gerencser, Principal, was once a student riding the bus each morning and afternoon. It wasn’t until he reached high school that he was able to drive himself to school. To this day, Gerencser is willing to board the bus for school trips since he feels confident this system of transportation is in code and follows necessary safety precautions.
Gerencser acknowledges that bus drivers have a difficult job, deserving any and all praise. He said, “Everyone that is on the roads needs to take caution to drive safely and respect other motorists.”
Amber Krisukas, assistant principal, reminisces of memories with her friends during her days of riding the bus. She agrees with Gerencser that buses are safe.
Krisukas said, “The roadways are busy. All drivers must be vigilant and safe. Reducing distractions, such as avoiding cell phone use while driving, is likely to be the best way to maintain safe travel.”
Kayley Gregalis, junior, expressed that she only ever feels unsafe because of other students on the bus but trusts her bus driver completely. She feels seatbelts may cause more stress in an emergency. She expressed that she thought seat belts wouldn’t be used and a bus driver would have to strap the students in.
Photo Courtesy of Elijah Ceraul
As Pen Argyl students are dissmised from their last class of the day, each of the buses line the front of the school building. After a few mintues the bus drivers can now begin their last route of the day.
Gregalis said, “The only time feeling unsafe is with the other kids on the bus at times, but that is just because of who they are, not what they do most of the time.” Her advice is to be respectful on the bus and listen to directions given by the bus driver an that will help prevent crashes.
However, most buses didn’t have proper safety precautions until 1970s. New things have been added and still are being added such as seatbelts, cameras, and stability controls.
Buses for transporting students were invented in 1925 by Albert Luce Sr. He named it the Bluebird and it still exists today. However, public bussing was created in 1826 using horses and carriages. In the 1830’s they moved on to stem buses, then in 1882 trolley cars were brought into the mix.
The first motorized power bus was made in 1895. Today, students get on a big yellow bus because it is visible so others can see it, but that was done first in 1939 by Dr. Frank Cyr who made sure the bus was yellow and included more safety precautions.
School bus drivers are required to be 18 years old, have at least six months experience behind the wheel, a commercial driving license with no prior infractions, and a high school diploma/ your GED. Then they go through training and are taught safety precautions to make sure students are safe. Even old bus drivers are required to take more courses to make sure they keep up with the safety precautions.
Kelly Bartholomew, bus driver at KriseTransportation, talks about how every year bus drivers have training with bus trainers and monthly safety where they go over safety procedures and what to do in case anything happens. Bartholomew has been in minor accidents and said they were scary. The key to safety is minimal distractions and keeping their eyes on the road.
She had also mentioned that seat belts would help keep people from being hurt because buses are designed to be safer than cars. She also commented on how it would be a distracting task for bus drivers to enforce seat belts. With no guarantee students will wear them. When asked if school started at a different time there may be less crashes.
Bartholomew said, “I do not think a change in timing would affect accidents as it only takes 1 person to cause an accident and that could happen at any time!”
Dana Farace, transportation director, has been one for 16 years and before that she was a school van driver. She had said that Krise Transportation, the schools bus contractors are the most up to date that there currently is. She also said that she believes as long as people follow the bus rules in the student handbook it should be safe.
Farace said, “In the case of an accident involving a school bus or van the following protocol would be followed...”
Busses are big and do end up taking up a lot of room on the road. So crashes happen like this often. In most crash situations a car will end up hitting a bus, it doesn’t help that school starts just as the traffic to work is larger. School also ends around the time most jobs do, so traffic on the way home is also large.
Chelsea Rivenbark, history teacher, said that car drivers don’t obey traffic laws, and she personally has seen drivers pass or go around a bus when it has its stop sign out and students are actively getting on. She brought up how on social media she has seen that in Florida some police officers would be waiting by the bus stop during drop off and pick up and pull over cars that fly by.
On August 28, an SUV driver hit a Bangor school bus at 2:10 PM. It left six students out of fourteen majorly injured or about 42.86% with no adults majorly injured. This happened on the intersection between E. 4th street and Edwards street. On August 29th, the SUV driver was issued with reckless driving, careless driving, driving on roadways laned for traffic, and driving on the wrong side of the roadway. After the SUV driver tried to cross a double yellow line right into the bus’s way. The bus driver didn’t get any citations.
This is only one incident of one crash, yes, but there are more than one bus crashes a year. Would this be different if all people rode in the smaller vans with seat belts? The fatality rate for buses is 0.2 per 100 miles while cars have a 1.5 fatality out of 100 miles. According to the numbers buses are safer. These accidents do not include when a bus breaks down which happens more often than you would think. So buses have all different procedures in place to keep students safe.
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