HomeIndustry ReleasesSchool Buses: A Safe Ride on a 'Green Machine'

School Buses: A Safe Ride on a ‘Green Machine’

School busses deliver their precious cargo each school day and are often taken for granted. Wheel Safety is part of the continuous improvement process.

Consider these facts:

  • According to the National Safety Council, School Buses are 172 times safer than a family automobile
  • 54 students, average number of pupils transported be each school bus
  • 26 million students ride school buses across thousands of miles of roads and highways daily
  • 3.1 billion – Total annual car fuel savings by students riding school buses (gallons)

Source: The American School Bus Council

Insuring safe, economical trouble-free transportation of students to school in accordance with federal and state regulations is the everyday goal of school organizers.

Loose wheel nuts on the highway create a dangerous situation. It has long been recognized that proper torqueing of wheel nuts play an important role in vehicle and wheel preventative maintenance.

Over many years, federal and state school bus regulations have been established to enforce Road and Vehicle Safety standards, however, the important component that keeps vehicles moving on the road namely, the wheels, are often overlooked. Wheels must be in peak condition at all times to ensure safe passage of students daily without incident.

Loose wheel nuts on moving vehicles create a dangerous situation, including wheel loss. These conditions have been recognized as an ongoing problem by the nationwide organization Technology & Maintenance council (TMC) whose goal of extending the boundaries of Vehicle Maintenance includes recommended practices (RP 237A) for proper wheel torqueing procedures to help alleviate this problem.

As part of the continuous improvement process for a safe and friendly environment, Safetytrimworldwide has now developed a line of SafetyTrims with school buses in mind, namely black thermoplastic nut safety rings to accommodate eight and ten set lug wheel configurations. These safety rings are ideally suited for school buses and provide quick and easy installation at garages.

Installation of a Safety Trim wheel security ring is simple, after following recommended TMC procedures to check that all individual wheel nuts are properly torqued to wheel specifications, simply press the thermoplastic Safety Trim ring firmly over the individual wheel nuts and you’re in control with individual “At –a –Glance” nut safety indicators that indicate when an wheel nut is backing off.

In operation, should a wheel nut back off a quarter of a turn, a yellow individual nut indicator marker appears – this action simultaneously indicates the nut has begun to loosen and simultaneously “Locks” the offending nut on the wheel hub to stop the process.

Incorporating daily “At-a-Glance” inspections of individual school bus wheels results in operators knowing status of individual wheel nuts: result control of loose nuts, safer uninterrupted “On – the – Road” trips to school.

Take steps to keep school buses green by minimizing downtime and maximizing uptime.

Safetytrimworldwide Wheel nut management systems ensure operators achieve a high rating for wheel safety.

For Additional information:

  • West Coast Distributor:
    SafetyTrim Worldwide
    1580 Oakland Road, Ste C-109
    Jan Jose, CA 95131
    (408) 207-7004
    www.safetytrimworldwide.com
  • East Coast Distributor:
    Globalbound Industries LLC 
    1405 D. Babbage Lane
    Indian Trail, NC 28079
    (704) 684-0101
    www.globalboundind.com

March 2024

This month's issue highlights the challenges of routing and how technology can help. Read more about the RFP process,...

Buyer’s Guide 2024

Find the latest vehicle production data and budget reports, industry trends, and contact information for state, national and federal...
Advertisement

Poll

Do you utilize ChatGPT to increase personal efficiency during the workday?
64 votes
VoteResults
Advertisement