Show School transportation asks interested U scribe Utahn's should be proud of their school They have moved rural education out of the uneconomical one-room school-house into the streamlined consolidated Unfortunately we must also be For too many school children ride to school daily behind incompetent in unsafe unprotected by inadequate traffic The school bus is the responsibility of because it carries children and we pay for it average of a year per Bus-riding children six hours in their classrooms and often an additional hour and a half on the The average school bus trip is long and takes 49 each On such trips dangers obviously can multiply if precautions are not In many school districts today precautions are not Children are being killed and injured because ot inefficiency and To insure safety in the school bus only four questions have to be and answered corrects Is the driver Is the road free from unusual Is the vehicle Do laws protect the small In many sections of the state railroad and bridge crossings on school bus routes are so hazardous that children have been ordered to climb off the bus and edge across single file while the empty bus cautiously follows Although great progress has been made in the past decade in incorporating safety features in school bus the National Safety council reports that many dangerous improvised by unskilled are still carrying children to A chasis which has outworn its usefulness for hauling farm produce is attached to a wooden body and becomes a school Children jolt along in a cattle truck with built-up wooden Buses condemned for use as public carriers are bought cheap by contractors and foisted on our school Where maintenance programs are defective brakes and shattered worn parts are still a constant hazard to the School buses are required by law to be painted a color chosen for its brightness and This national color has not been well How many drivers react instantly by applying their brakes and proceeding cautiously when they see a chrome-yellow blur in the How many who recognize a school bus constanty confused when bus contractors are allowed to ignore the law and use a blue or a maroon bus to transport children to Just as the finest bus will crack up with a reckless the best trained driver cannot always provide safety in a rattletrap of a Often the use of outdated poorly can be blamed on the school administrator who does not want to assume the responsibility of running his own bus program and so hands over the to a private who may think first of second of Many contractors run their business on a low budget and cannot afford or for the latest model Skimping here and they yet another hazard to The school superintendent who uses a contractor to run his bus program not only in but in economy as Studies show that school-owned transportation is cheaper and more efficient than the contract Parent-teacher associations and other groups should consult with school with transportation specialists in the state department of with state to out whether the transportation program is administered wisely under present law or new laws are needed to protect the children who ride in school Salient points to check are Is the state traffic law forbidding motorists to pass a stopped school bus well strictly enforced Are the buses painted bright clearly equipped with blinker lights which flash as they Do they have steel safety double sash other safety Are they more than eight years Are there constant Does the school own its own buses Have the bus drivers demonstrated through and written tests that they are capable in Are they given annual physical Does the district maintain-a driver-training How safe are the Have bus routes been wherever to avoid unguarded railroad blind dan- Does the school use the Safety Patrol Is discipline maintained among the Make sure that the roads traveled by school abuses are paved with more than good LaVar F. |