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news
Top Member
Canada
2951 Posts |
 Posted - 04/08/2008 : 09:04:14 AM
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Without disclosure of school bus injuries, sound policy on seat belts will be difficult
EDITORIAL
April 8, 2008 - Allentown Morning Call, PA
In the districts not now doing so, members of the school boards must demand that both bus companies and district employees responsible for transportation make full disclosure. In fact, in our view, Pennsylvania's open records law requires them to do so.
full story
Related forum story;
Survey finds 200+ students might have avoided inj
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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2008 : 11:47:33 AM
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Comment from the Morning Call's comment area:
Story quote: "The people most concerned about children's safety -- their families -- deserve to know. And those who would foot the bill for any modifications to bus fleets -- taxpayers -- also deserve to know. In the districts not now doing so, members of the school boards must demand that both bus companies and district employees responsible for transportation make full disclosure."
In my opinion, the Morning Call is on a fishing expedition, trying to find substance to keep alive the controversy they are stirring up. If there were any serious injuries, they would be reported to the police at the time of the accident, as required by law. Bus accidents are major news stories and the first thing reported is whether or not there are any injured children.
Telling private companies that they need to give information to the Morning Call is journalistic hutzpah. The Morning Call could search its own archives (do they have to pay $ for their own old news?) to see if there is any substance here.
Hiding behind the old "they won't tell us" pretense tells me that there aren't enough injuries to make the seat belt controversy worth spending any money on.
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Myself agaree with the story. Especially were self monitoring and inspecting - full disclousure is a must. (jk)
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Edited by - JK on 04/08/2008 11:48:40 AM |
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Sandra (Ennis) Nunn
Top Member
Canada
1180 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2008 : 1:38:57 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by JK
In my opinion, the Morning Call is on a fishing expedition, trying to find substance to keep alive the controversy they are stirring up. If there were any serious injuries, they would be reported to the police at the time of the accident, as required by law. Bus accidents are major news stories and the first thing reported is whether or not there are any injured children.
Telling private companies that they need to give information to the Morning Call is journalistic hutzpah. The Morning Call could search its own archives (do they have to pay $ for their own old news?) to see if there is any substance here.
Hiding behind the old "they won't tell us" pretense tells me that there aren't enough injuries to make the seat belt controversy worth spending any money on.
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Myself agaree with the story. Especially were self monitoring and inspecting - full disclousure is a must. (jk)
That brings up some interesting questions... Are all accident details freely made available to reporters? Does the press collect and report school bus injury data more accurately and/or effectively than bus companies and school districts?
From the article, Stirring the Pot: Showing No Restraint for Lap/Shoulder Belt Opponents By Jim Ellis, from School Transportation News:
"I should mention here, as I've mentioned in previous columns, that in my opinion student injury data in our industry is extremely suspect. State methodologies for collecting data vary widely; reporting compliance is dubious and there is every reason to believe injuries are under-reported. For instance, one study showed that over half of all school bus accidents went unreported to the New York State Education Department. And data is no more credible at a federal level - look at the injury tables included in the 2002 federal "Crashworthiness" study, for instance. Some of their attempts to explain the curious leaps in data from year to year in their tables are priceless: "There has been a wide variation in the number of injured persons in frontal crashes, with the estimate ranging from zero for years 1993 through 1996 to nearly 6,000 in 1992." A wide variation, indeed."
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PA: Without disclosure of sb injuries...
