The average age of a Gwinnett County school bus is 17 years old, nearly twice the national average. Some were made in 1986. The Atlanta-area district has about 1,960 school buses, claiming to have the largest district-owned fleet in the nation. Officials are worried that a number of vehicle parts are obsolete. School board members voted to spend roughly $1 million on 13 new school buses. While this is a step in the right direction, officials reported they still need more vehicles. “I’ve just got to start modernizing and updating our fleet,” said the school district’s chief operations officer. The new buses will have LED lights and other safety features worth the average sale price of about $82,000. To pay for the new buses, the district will use fines collected from motorists who failed to yield to stopped school buses. Gwinnett began placing video cameras on its buses in 2014 to catch those motorists.
A Chicago school bus caught fire with “only a few” student aboard. All were evacuated immediately. The bus was completely destroyed by the fire, which was possibly caused by an electrical shortage, officials reported. No smoke filled the cabin as students were cleared from the vehicle. A new bus picked up the students and transported them to school. The fire damaged bus was towed from the scene after firefighters doused the flames.
During the school bus ride home, a special needs student was “disruptive.” In response, a Virginia bus driver and aide pinned the boy to the seat, as well as slapped and spit on him. His arms were forced over his mouth and his breathing was restricted. All this was captured on video. Now the driver and aide have been charged with assault on the 9-year-old student on a school bus. Police were called by county school and social service officials about the crime, who was on a bus equipped for special needs students. He was strapped into a harness to prevent him from getting completely out of the seat. The bus driver was charged with assault and battery and felony abduction. The driver’s wife, the aide, was charged with assault and battery.
A Mississippi school bus driver, who was captured on cell phone video fighting, was found not guilty in court. The driver will only have to pay some fines. The fight was instigated by a 19-year-old woman, who was not a student or a passenger on the bus. She pleaded guilty to simple assault. Her 13-year-old sister, who was a student aboard the bus, was shown in the video continuing to hit the driver in the head after she was pulled down the steps.
