School charter accidents spur FMCSA to offer assistance

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two recent school charter accidents involving motorcoach companies have prompted the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to offer its assistance to school districts. In a statement to a House appropriations subcommittee on May 9, Julie Anna Cirillo, acting deputy administrator of the FMCSA, said the administration will initiate a program to help school districts and parent-teacher organizations select bus companies with good safety records. “We will provide access to our data systems so they can identify which bus operators have the best safety records,” she said. Concern about school charter safety has been spurred by two recent crashes. On April 6, a motorcoach bus transporting a group of North Carolina high school students to a music competition in Florida crashed near Kingsland, Ga. Twenty-two students were injured in the crash, some seriously. Following the accident, FMCSA officials investigated the tour company that provided the bus — AMA Tours Unlimited in Fayetteville, N.C. — and found several violations involving drug and alcohol testing, hours of service and vehicle inspection and maintenance. The FMCSA fined the tour company $35,500. Three weeks after the crash near Kingsland, Ga., a motorcoach bus transporting Newton, Mass., middle-school students to a music festival in Nova Scotia crashed near Sussex, New Brunswick, killing four students and injuring dozens of others. The bus was carrying 42 members of a middle school band when it failed to negotiate a hairpin turn and crashed along the Trans-Canada Highway. According to published reports, the driver, Hin Chi Kan, spoke little English and needed the help of a chaperone to translate road signs. He apparently could have avoided the hairpin turn where the crash occurred if he had not missed the proper turnoff minutes earlier.

Blue Bird unveils new conventional bus

FORT VALLEY, Ga. — Blue Bird Corp. has introduced a new conventional school bus built on a Ford-based chassis with a Cummins ISB engine. The 2002 model features a low-profile hood to improve front-view driver visibility and a “Safety View” vision panel that is positioned at the lower right front loading/unloading zone. This trademark innovation improves the driver’s direct-sight visibility in this critical area. The new conventional also features a new driver cockpit and front dash area with easy-to-read gauges and a standard tilt steering column. A Bostrom driver seat helps to reduce fatigue. Options include air brakes, engines from 190 to 245 hp, Allison automatic transmission and a perforated acoustical ceiling to reduce interior noise levels. Incremental wheelbases of 156 to 275 inches allow passenger capacities ranging from 36 to 77. The standard wheelbase is 254 inches, with a 66-passenger capacity. Headroom is 74 inches. For more information about this new product, contact a Blue Bird distributor in your area. To locate your nearest distributor, call (800) 486-7122 or visit Blue Bird’s Website at www.blue-bird.com.