Tennessee school bus crash leads to safety questions
FORT DODGE — A school bus crash that left six children dead in Chattanooga, Tenn., has raised concerns about the use of seat belts on buses and if seat belt use on buses should be mandated by the state of Iowa.
Stu Cochrane, president of the Fort Dodge Community School District board, said it’s an issue that hasn’t often been discussed by the board, primarily because of the low rate of school bus-related incidents within the district.
“When something like what happened in Chattanooga happens, that’s a time to consider what can be done to avoid that,” Cochrane said. “But it’s such an unusual occurrence where you have a rollover like that. It’s hard to guard against irresponsible driving when somebody goes off the deep end like that.”
Cochrane said mandating seat belt use may not be the answer and may not even necessarily be safer.
“There are some pretty good reasons why seat belts may not be that practical,” Cochrane said. “Not only from a cost standpoint, but from an effective standpoint. You start adding seat belts and there are other dynamics that come into play, such as having access getting in and out quicker if there was an emergency.”
A bus rolled onto its top or one that ended up in the water were two scenarios Cochrane laid out where seat belts might not be as beneficial.
Cochrane said having about 40 students buckled up could present more problems in those circumstances.
Brad Niemeyer, FDCSD director of transportation, agreed.
“If there is a bus rolled over on its top and you have 40 first-, second- and third-graders hanging upside down by their seat belt and the driver is incapacitated, you have a big problem,” Niemeyer said.
Cochrane also said if seat belt use were to become mandated, enforcement would be a challenge.
“You put a lot on that bus driver to make sure everyone is doing it,” Cochrane said.
The seat belts could also be used as a weapons, Cochrane added.
“If someone wants to misuse the seat belt, that could happen too,” he said.
Still, Cochrane and Niemeyer agreed that seat belts could potentially be a positive change.
According to Niemeyer, Des Moines Public Schools are currently testing out seat belt use on two of its buses in order to weigh the pros and cons.
“They are going to present those results to the Iowa Pupil Transportation Association conference in the summer,” Niemeyer said.
Niemeyer said the study is not being done in reaction to the Chattanooga crash.
“It was something they were already doing,” he said.
With or without seat belts, school buses are the safest mode of transportation, according to Niemeyer.
“Buses are 20 times safer than taking someone in a car to school,” Niemeyer said.
The FDCSD has 37 buses. Eight of the buses are special needs buses.
Seat belts are installed on the special needs buses as needed.
“If it’s in their IEP (Individual Education Plan) then we buckle them,” Niemeyer said. “Not all students require them.”
No major school bus collisions or accidents occurred within the district over the course of the last year, Niemeyer reported.
“We don’t have examples of mass injuries on school buses,” Cochrane said. “If you are driving on a bus, you are driving with someone who is much more qualified than the average driver on the road and they are driving in a much safer piece of equipment than the average car on the road. So I think all of those things factor in to why the Legislature has never seen a need to do it.”
Part of that success is a testament to the drivers on staff, Niemeyer said.
“I’ll be honest, Fort Dodge has a great bunch of school bus drivers,” Niemeyer said. “We really do.”
Each bus driver goes through background checks and has to be licensed by the state.
“You have to have the minimum of a class B CDL, a passenger endorsement, a school bus endorsement and an air brake endorsement,” Niemeyer said. “You have to have all that before you can even get behind the wheel.”
The seats on buses are also safer than what they used to be, Niemeyer said.
“They call it compartmentalization where the seats absorb impact if there was a catastrophic accident, the seats absorb the impact,” Niemeyer said. “If they are sitting in the bus properly, that compartment is designed to keep the kids safe. It keeps the impact down.”
Niemeyer added that seat belts would likely add to the level of safety in regards to impact.
All buses undergo state inspection twice a year.
Niemeyer said the last inspection was successful.
“We had three buses put out of service for 30 days and they were fixed immediately,” Niemeyer said. “Our mechanics do a great job. They really do.”
To increase safety in the area around school buses, the Fort Dodge Police Department tries to have a presence at every school in Fort Dodge, according to Cody Harris, patrol officer.
Harris said officers watch for cars that illegally pass school buses when lights on the bus are flashing or the stop sign arm is extended.
Harris said some drivers will attempt to turn left behind a school bus to avoid having to wait.
“The trend I am seeing is cars will go halfway around it, turn left and go down the block,” he said.
That action is still a violation, Harris said.
“If they don’t pass the school bus completely they think they are OK to go around it and they are not,” he said. “They aren’t completely avoiding the bus, but there are still kids that get off and go around the bus. We teach kids to go around the front of the bus, but kids will sometimes go around the back of the bus.”
To assist officers when they are not present, bus drivers will take down the license plate number of drivers who violate the law.
Each school bus also has three cameras installed in them, according to Niemeyer.
“That has helped cut down on incidents that occur,” Harris said. “Kids know that the camera is picking them up. The bus drivers can’t see everything, but the camera will pick up on some of that activity.”
Harris said especially after school it’s important that everyone follows the rules in place.
“After school there is the chaos of trying to find your kid, get your kid and then get home as soon as possible,” Harris said. “Because a lot of families have sporting events they have to get to.”
“The old adage is ‘slow is smooth and smooth is fast,'” Harris said. “Everyone gets so rammy and jammy that they are essentially making everything slower and it clogs it up more. If everyone stays on pace and follows the rules, the rules are designed to make things go a lot smoother and a lot faster.”