What Is Necessary For School Bus Safety?
School bus safety has long been an important part of the overall issue of school safety. The United States and Canada have been on the forefront of this issue since these are two of the main countries which have extensive school transportation systems. Recently, a study was conducted in Alberta, Canada, which aimed to determine what is really needed in order to enhance the safety of the children riding in school buses.
The study was actually conducted by an independent group called Opus International Consultants. This group went over data regarding Alberta school bus collisions from the year 2001 to the year 2006. Based on the data that they reviewed, they came up with their recommendations as to how to improve school bus safety.
Before I reveal the results of the study, let me ask you, what do you think are the essential elements for school bus safety? To be honest, if I were asked the same question without prior knowledge of the study, I would probably have a list that looked something like this:
1. Skilled and responsible drivers
2. New or properly maintained school buses
3. Safety equipment in buses such as seatbelts
4. Some high tech equipment that will make the buses function efficiently.
What would your list contain?
So now that I got you thinking, let me share their findings. According to the researchers, practical safety measures are what we need in order to increase school bus safety. These practical measures include strobe lights, reflective tape, and flashing amber lights. The goal of utilizing these things is to prevent crashes. Furthermore, they also rejected some high tech ideas such as surveillance cameras and GPS units.
According to Jerry Bellikka, the spokesman for the Transportation Department, the practical measures will yield more concrete results than the installation of the high tech gadgets. He is quoted as saying: “We had to look at those recommendations in the context of all the other research and work we’ve done on school bus safety over the year.” Other people involved, such as Opus VP Raheem Dilgir also raised issues such as the invasion of privacy as well as the more practical consideration of expenses.
I tend to agree with the findings. As much as the idea of having surveillance and GPS units installed in school buses appeal to me, I cannot really see a direct effect on preventing crashes. Do you?
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Posted on November 10th, 2008 by Deborah J Thomas
Filed under: Administrators, High School, K-6, News, People Involved, School Grade Level, School Safety Issues, School bus safety
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