1,100 school bus drivers, attendants train in ‘Safety Expo’

Houston Independent School District’s back-to-school transportation training program includes hands-on drills in railroad crossing safety, gang awareness, student management, hurricane preparedness and other topics. As Transportation General Manager Nathan Graf puts it, “It was not your typical training.”

Post-accident Procedures Committees Key in Prevention

Whether using a committee or more informal arrangement, selecting the right members, having procedures in place in advance for determining preventable measures and driver retraining are crucial.  

School bus drivers provide vital info for 1st responders

In Autauga County, Alabama, 150 school bus drivers sign up for Yellow Dot, a free program that officials say provides potentially life-saving information to first responders in the event of a crash. The drivers get their photos taken and complete a personal form with emergency contact and medical info.

School bus caught in sagging power lines

School officials in British Columbia say that the bus driver evacuated the passengers in this case because the downed wires had sparked a small fire. However, the officials say, "Normally passengers are advised to stay inside the vehicle if live electrical wires are a factor."

District honored for school bus routing after tornado

The transportation department at Missouri's Joplin Schools receives the 2014 Public Sector Excellence Award from Tyler Technologies for its creative use of the Versatrans transportation management system following a May 2011 tornado, including identifying students affected by the disaster and creating new routes around the damaged areas. Two more school districts are among the seven other award recipients.

New Jersey district boosts training with bus crash drill

Perth Amboy Public Schools' transportation department conducts the full-scale drill in partnership with the city's police and fire departments, as well as EMS personnel and students, to better prepare all involved in the event of a real emergency. Transportation Manager Edmund Treadaway discusses the event, which was nine months in the making.

PHOTOS: Boosting Training with Bus Crash Drill

District revamps emergency procedures for special-needs students

Among the changes at Florida’s Hillsborough County Public Schools transportation department is the requirement for bus drivers to call 911 first when there’s a medical emergency, and bus drivers also receive more training in handling students with disabilities as well as undergo a new debriefing process when a medically fragile student has an issue. The changes are in response to the deaths of two special-needs students in 2012.

Driver steers disabled school bus to safe stop

Bob Welsh is transporting students down a hill when the bus’ radio, lights, engine and brakes stop working. He is able to steer the bus into a ditch covered by snow, where it comes to rest.

Teen helps bus driver who collapses at the wheel

Jesse Hermanson and an aide are on the bus when driver Lee Plante loses consciousness while making a U-turn, sending the bus through a brick wall and into a backyard. The teen says he saw Plante halfway out the bus doors, and his thought was to “call 911 and release the emergency switch because the doors kept pinching him.”