The Seymour, Indiana, Police Department is taking a new approach to crack down on distracted driving.  The department launched what they call “Operation Pullover”.

Using school buses as undercover police vehicles, officers caught unsuspecting people who are distracted while driving, or otherwise breaking the law (not wearing  a seat belt, moving violations, texting, etc.).  The officers inside the bus then signal over to another officer nearby who pulls the person over.

The Seymour Police Department have identified that the number one cause of accidents in their jurisdiction is distracted drivers.  In 2015, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration attributed nearly 3,500 deaths nationwide to distracted driving. Seymour police have attributed 265 deaths in their county alone.

Officers estimated they caught about 10 drivers an hour during the operation, which is very unsettling.  The department expects to conduct more operations a couple of times a month.

Hopefully this will promote safer driving around school buses and school bus drop off and pick up points.

We have all heard of a school bus driver or monitor losing his or her head while on route, but a school bus driver losing a rear wheel?  That’s what happened this past week in Charlotte, NC, according to The Charlotte Observer.

The wheel fell off a Charlotte-Mecklenburg bus in traffic, damaging another car and stranding high school students who were on their way to school.  The district said a transportation mechanicfailed to properly tighten the lug nuts after a brake replacement, and pre-trip and post-trip inspections by bus drivers did not uncover the problem.

While the mechanic at fault is not a new employee, the school district pointed out that its bus garage staff is short-staffed, as 14 of 99 positions in bus maintenance and repair have been unfilled.

Kevin Harrison, the director of student transportation for the North Carolina department of Education, told The Observer that he reviewed the maintenance history of the affected school bus in addition to a sampling of district buses inspected last year.  He said that the report showed an increase in defects and below average safety rating but that he could not find any record of previous wheel or tire issues that indicated a systemic problem.

If this had been a Nascar race, someone would have been fined $25,000 and the loss of their crew chief for 2 races due to loose lugnuts !!!

With Hurricane Harvey wreaking havoc in southeastern Texas last week and causing school closures, some school bus operations in the region have been contributing to relief efforts.  The buses have been used to transport evacuees – as well as donated food and supplies – to local shelters.

The districts that were dispatched to support the evacuation efforts are Humble Independent School District (ISD), New Caney ISD, Houston ISD, Beaumont ISD and Bay City ISD.  School districts farther from the storm are also working to support displaced families.  San Antonio ISD and Austin ISD said that evacuees can enroll in their schools while clean up and rebuilding are taking place.  School districts as far as New York and Missouri are also asking what they can do to help.

Representatives from Humble ISD were stated as saying “as flood waters recede, district staff are assessing each campus and working with authorities to determine when closed roadways will reopen.

And now, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, among other states affected by the wrath of Hurricane Irma, will also need their neighbor’s help.  It is so heart warming to see communities pull together in time of need!

The impact of a fire in a school bus is wide ranging.  We have seen numerous reports just recently of fires occurring on school buses.  Issues can include passenger safety, costs to schools, loss of passenger capacity, disruption of traffic and public relation issues.  Bus fire suppression systems ensure vehicles and buses remain safe.

Firetrace systems offer a unique approach to fire protection to many of fire prone areas of the buses.  These systems detect fire using the proprietary red Firetrace Detection Tubing (FDT).  This heat sensitive polymer tubing is pressurized and reacts to the heat and radiant energy of a fire by bursting, thus activating the fire suppression system.

Firetrace detection tubing is ideal for fire detection in buses as it tolerates the vibration, dirt and temperature extremes.  These systems are pneumatically operated therefore require no power from the vehicle to operate and do not place additional strain on the vehicle’s electrical system.

To get more information about Firetrace Suppression Systems, call Carolina Bus Sales at 864-461-7088.

With school starting all over the nation, pupil transportation professionals have been busy getting not only school buses ready for transporting children to school, but the drivers themselves.  The following are just a few of the ways school districts are prepping the drivers for the new school year:

Finalizing bus routes

Receiving brand new buses as approved for purchase

Conducting required school bus drivers courses on new policies and safety practices

Scheduling physicals for drivers

Completing CPR, AFD (defibrillator), and EpiPen training

Scheduling school bus safety drills

Revising and updating driver manuals and handbooks

Recruiting new drivers

Training newly hired drivers

There are many other ways school districts prep their drivers for the beginning of the school year.  There is no such thing as too much training and prep to ensure that our children get to and from school and activities safely.

It’s that time of year again – already!  And the same concerns are cropping up again this year.  Where are we going to find school bus drivers to run the routes?

Districts with more than 50 million children are worried how they will get these children to and from school.  The country has a shortage of school bus drivers which 22 percent of private bus contractors call “severe”,  according to a recent survey by School Bus Fleet Magazine.  According to the survey, five percent of school bus contractors are “desperate” to find drivers.

Why a shortage?  The director of transportation for the Douglas County school district in Colorado stated that school bus driving is not as attractive a job as it may have been recently.  “The economy is better so people are going back to jobs they had done previously or they find the need to stay at home,” Donna Grattino told ABC News Denver affiliate KMGH.

The Denver-area district still needs at least 40 more drivers and is considering enlisting stay-at-home parents to fill the gap by allowing them to bring their preschool age children with them on the job.  But becoming a bus driver can take time.  The process of getting a commercial drivers license, drug tests, background checks, and training can take up to 12 weeks.  According to School Bus Fleet Magazine, the average pay nationwide for school bus drivers is $16.90 an hour, up from $16.24 in 2016.

The National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) has partnered with consulting firm The Dash Group to create a customized way for employers to assess a school bus driver’s capacity for sound judgement.

The School Bus Driver Safety and Risk Index is designed to measure a current or prospective driver’s decision-making ability.  The assessment is available online and is expected to take most job applicants no more that 10 to 12 minutes to complete.  Afterward, employers receive a confidential, downloadable report.

According to NAPT, the report gives employees a sense of the candidate’s abilities and capacities in such areas as problem solving, dependability, work ethic, dealing with difficult people and situations, concentration, and following directions.

NAPT said that this index can be used as the first-line assessment in hiring.  If a driver scores poorly, the employer can save money by not investing in DMV checks, background checks, or drug screenings.

TomTom, a leader in navigation and mapping products, and GSPi, a top provider of cloud-based telematics solutions, have combined their technologies to create a more comprehensive offering for school bus operators.

The two top companies have introduced the TomTom BRIDGE with GSPi software.  The product will allow bus drivers to easily track hours of service, assign drivers, change routes, create geofences (geographic boundaries), view and manage driver history, and schedule vehicle maintenance.

The TomTom BRIDGE is a navigation device built for professional drivers that seamlessly links business applications with TomTom maps, traffic and navigation software.  It provides a friendly, out-of-the-box solution to help meet the ELD (Electronic Logging Device) mandate in the United States and Canada.

The latest model from Collins Bus aims to enhance accessibility for students who use wheelchairs.  The new Low-Floor bus integrates a wheelchair ramp with three floor plans, with positions for one, two or three wheelchair passengers.  The bus does not use a wheelchair lift or multiple-step entrances, but a ramp that easily folds up and down for access..

The Low-Floor is built on a front-wheel drive chassis and is powered by a 3.6 liter gasoline V6 engine.  Among the options for the Low-Floor bus are three-point seats, backup camera, plywood flooring and many others.

These Low-Floor buses will ensure students have access to an equal education before, during and after school.

When it comes to purchasing a used school bus, you may already know a lot more than you think about making the right choice. Executives seasoned in both buying and selling in the used bus market say the experience bears a resemblance to a used car purchase.

One of the most important things to look for is a healthy engine with a lot of life left. The chassis is a big consideration – its where you have the biggest cost factor, according to Gavin Berwald, transportation supervisor for Beachwood (Ohio) City Schools. Uncover the past of the school bus if you can.

It is not uncommon for an older bus to have had an engine or transmission replaced, which changes the effective age as indicated by the mileage report. Documentation of these replacements is very important. You need to know if the replacement was new or used and how long ago the replacement was made to help determine the life of the vehicle.

An inspection by your mechanic can help in making a decision on which bus is good for your company, school or church. Buyers should also check state and federal guidelines before purchasing a used school bus, which includes whether or not your company will need a driver with a commercial driver’s license. Financing is another consideration. Most companies will have a financing plan in place for any potential buyers, with various options available through the dealer or other financial institutions.

Of course, I recommend buying your school bus from Carolina Bus Sales in Chesnee, SC !!!