The most important factor about sending your kids to school by any form of transport is their safety. And the issue of blame or who is responsible for their safety is quite irrelevant if they are at risk in transit. Recent news that has hit the bus industry in the U.S has brought this issue once more to the fore.
That is why sophisticated tracking and monitoring systems such as School Travel Manager are becoming more and more in demand from schools, parents and coach operators.
Missouri School Bus Crashes
16th August 2018 – school bus crash into a ditch in O’Fallon in Missouri. The driver and five students were injured. The bus was traveling northeast when it veered off the road and hit a tree, before finally stopping in a bridge.
The driver and the students all had to be taken to hospital although their injuries were not life threatening. It is know known that there were over thirty students on the bus at the time of the accident.
Those that were injured were reported as not wearing seat belts and it was this fact that caused most of the injuries.
School Bus Crashes in New Jersey
17th May 2018 – school bus crash in Mount Olive, New Jersey. Report of a school bus crash in New Jersey that unfortunately caused the deaths of a student and a teacher. The bus collided with a dump truck which led to the event of the bus lying in two pieces.
All of the 45 passengers sustained injuries, some of which were serious. The accident was supposedly the fault of the bus driver that was attempting a U-turn.
New Recommendations from NTSB
Following these two crashes and based upon other fatal crashes in Tennessee and Maryland the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) decided to step in and release new safety recommendations over safety on school buses.
These recommendations included for all states in America to mandate lap-shoulder belts in every school bus. It even went further in the state of New Jersey that all school buses upgrade their current lap belts with lap-shoulder belts.
The recommendations by NTSB has spurred new legislation in Congress, proposing compulsory seat belts on every school bus across the country. The U.S Rep. John Gottheimer proposed this new bill calling for a federal rulemaking on school bus seat belts.
While all this is in progress other state lawmakers are looking at preventive measures to stop other such accidents. One district in particular that there is focus on is New Jersey, where mandatory belts are now required. And in Tennessee there have been grants made available to make the retrofit belts affordable now.
Legislature is currently reviewing over ten new bills concerned with school bus safety, many of which involve stricter training for drivers. Many education establishments are happy that finally legislation will force bus operators to add this new level of safety.
Obviously those bus operators that offer extra safety such as School Travel Manager will have the edge over contracts being offered by schools and educational establishments.