|
JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
 Posted - 10/23/2005 : 1:43:21 PM
|
Oct 21 2005
CHARLESTON -- Every driver has had another motorist stop suddenly or seem to appear out of nowhere, often causing a fender-bender or worse.
Laura Smyser says she’s grateful that she’s learned ways to avoid that, not just for her own safety but for the school children she drives as well.
Smyser is in her third year of driving a school bus for Laidlaw Education Services, the school bus company that the Charleston school district employs. The training the company gives its drivers helped lead to a perfect safety record during the last school year, and recognizing the achievement is part of the company’s observance of National School Bus Safety Week this week.
“I think it’s a wonderful safety program,” Smyser said. “They make sure we have everything we need.”
A rule on not following another vehicle too closely helped her prevent an accident when she “had someone slam on their brakes right in front of me,” she explained. The practice of “rocking and rolling,” where the driver moves from side to side and back and forth, has helped her see vehicles in her bus’ “danger zone” that she wouldn’t have spotted while sitting still, she added.
Lynda Luksander, manager of Laidlaw’s Charleston garage, said the company began using the Smith System, a transportation industry standard, to train its bus drivers about five years ago.
The result is that the garage had no accidents during the 2004-2005 school year while transporting children a total of 755 miles during that time, Luksander said. It’s unusual for a bus not to at least be involved in a minor accident during a year, she noted.
“We haven’t had a record like this for years,” Luksander said. “We are better prepared now.”
Click Here for source
FREE School Bus Safety Ads
Free to use at websites, in newsletters, memos, the local press, letters to parents and more. Note that the photos area is under revision - The school bus safety ads area is now available. This is a very popular Website. If you can't get in bookmark the page and try again later.
There is no school bus driver shortage!
Properly train, effective support and pay that retains.
|
|
School bus firm chalks up zero-accident record
