An alarming string of school bus accidents that occurred last week has devastated families and school personnel, even hitting a nerve across the state after two students were involved in a hit-and-run incident in nearby Louisville. Safety concerns have been raised by parents and non-parents alike over the issue of distracted and reckless drivers who’ve been known to pass school buses as children enter and exit “the safest method of transportation to and from school” according to the National Safety Council.
Last week, five children were killed by drivers who disregarded the nationwide school bus laws by driving past a stopped school bus with its lights on. These deaths occurred across three different states, and all of them involved children who were either crossing the street after exiting a school bus, attempting to board a school bus or waiting for a school bus to arrive. Three siblings — two 6-year-olds and a 9-year-old — were fatally struck in Indiana while attempting to cross the street and board the bus. One child was killed in Pennsylvania, while another was killed in Mississippi.
What’s causing this upturn in school bus-related accidents? The answer may be fairly simple, according to Downey Ward, Director of Transportation for Daviess County Public Schools.
“Distractions. Whatever that distraction is — cell phones, kids talking,” Ward said. “We see it every day.”
Ward says it’s difficult to impress the importance of driving without distraction to those who continue doing it. This school year alone, fresh out of its first 9-week grading period, Ward says DCPS has already recorded 24 violations and submitted them to the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office.
“And that’s just the ones we can see,” Ward said, adding that the license plate number for those who illegally pass a school bus must be recorded so that an official citation can be served.
Owensboro Public Schools’ Transportation Coordinator, Alice Thompson, agrees that cell phones are the biggest distraction her school system encounters when citing distracted drivers for illegally passing a stopped school bus.
“We write generally a couple [citations] a week — that’s no exaggeration,” Thompson said. “Drivers can radio them to us, if they aren’t able to write the license plate number down.”
The National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation (NASDPTS) revealed that last school year, 84,000 vehicles illegally passed school buses in one day. An estimated 26 million students across the nation ride a school bus each day, while 470,000 buses transport those students. School buses effectively keep 17 million cars away from school buildings per day, lessening the risk for car accidents.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that an average of 30 school-aged children are killed each year in school transportation-related accidents. Between 2006 and 2015, 301 students were killed in transportation-related accidents, while 102 of those fatalities were attributed to pedestrians.
Both Ward and Thompson are encouraging their bus drivers to keep their heads up and continue following all safety measures, as the recent uptick in fatalities caused by other vehicles has “rattled” some of the drivers, according to Thompson. Ward said his drivers have been affected as well.
“These drivers are passionate and compassionate — you can’t teach that. They are very good at what they do, but there’s that random element [distracted driving] you can’t control — people not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, not paying attention,” Ward said, emphasizing the toll it takes on a bus driver who witnesses a fatality or injury they can’t prevent. “I feel so bad for these drivers — how could you ever get over that?”
Thompson said in light of recent fatalities and injuries, OPS has decided to implement extra training to refresh drivers and students of the safety precautions involved in getting on and off the school bus.
“We’re going to do a safety meeting,” Thompson said, focusing on the importance of safely driving near a school bus. “We’re going to do bus safety classes in the next couple weeks [for students]. I stress, stress, stress to these kids to stop and look.”
Below is a visual reminder of how to react when you come across a stopped school bus, according to Kentucky School Bus Stop Law.
