OCR Text |
Show School buses ? still safest jar; on the road f cam food Those bright yellow school base arj dotting the landscape with young. a energetic Utah students are still the " safest vehicles on our roads, aecordii 1 to Kelvin Clayton, pupil transportatiot was' specialist for the Utah State Office of use- Education. orv Clayton reports that 5a percent i 11 the 82 school bus accidents which oc- curred during calendar year 19S2 were caused by a source other than bit drivers. One fatality was amoci them: a school bus entering the highway from a private roadway tuned tun-ed head-on into the path of an approaching ap-proaching cattle truck. The truci Xc driver was fatally injured. "Safety records can be misleading and must be viewed in terms of the big picture," explains Clayton. "Ourffiae- M cident and single fatality this past year " should be seen in perspective. The 1 Utah Department of Transportatict Wr reports 38,192 motor vehicle accident1 final for 1982, 284 of which were fatal ones." ffee the During the 1982-83 school year en- , ding last May, Utah's 1.345 school buses transported approximately 120.000 students a total distance of 14,276.350 miles. That's a lot of travel- ing, points out Clayton, at a timewhea our state's highways are facing a more and more complex challenge due to population growth. p. Data reveals that the worst months Xapit for school bus safety are during tl they, winter when icy, slick, hazardous roads exist. The greatest number of 1 accidents took place in December. January and February. the L Since 1978, when bus driver training levy t was instituted, accidents have been pe. reduced appreciably. In 19"- lheI le were 137 accidents "involving school reld( buses compared to the 82 accidents and tj this past year. Clayton is certain that the campaign supported by the It1 sa,d s Highway Patrol to enforce the la to a stop when red school bus lights art flashing will have a very significant- long-term effect on the improvemen of school bus safetv in our state. to mat H, Mer |