A new study reported that that between June 2011 and December 2015 there were 427 reported crashes involving Knox County school buses. “It’s really scary. I have to depend on that. Because if I don’t have the school bus system, I don’t have anything,” said a mother who doesn’t own a car. She relies on the bus to transport her two children. The report goes on to claim that the school bus system is “on a dangerous cliff.” The findings have parents upset, especially since the accidents range from clipping mirrors to fatalities. Bill Gentry, owner of Gentry Bus Lines, is one of a few contractors who believe the facts can be misleading. “They include a mirror clipping. They include turning on a tight corner and the rear wheel dropping off the pavement and getting into the grass. Things like that are important to document, but they are statistics going into this big number,” Gentry said. The report said there’s a need for more oversight and training.
A government-owned pickup truck being driven by a Maryland police officer rear-ended a school bus while it was stopped at a railroad crossing, causing extensive damage to both vehicles. Maryland law requires school buses, as well as vehicles carrying hazardous materials, to stop at railroad crossings under most circumstances. Other than the driver, the bus had only one student on board. Neither was injured, while the police officer, who was not identified, was taken to a local medical center, where he was treated and released. Police released no information on how the accident occurred, but one official said no charges have been filed at this point and that an investigation is underway.
One year after 10-year-old Jonathan Chatham was killed, a lawsuit has been filed claiming the death was due to the bus being operated in a ‘grossly negligent and reckless manner.’ Relatives say the lawsuit should put to rest the rumor that Chatham somehow crossed the road and came back into the path of the bus when he was getting off with other children. The incident, which was witnessed by the boy’s father, happened directly in front of the driveway leading to the boy’s home. The police report states that Chatham had ‘exited the bus, but not cleared the bus when it began to pull out.’ The father watched helplessly as his son was run over by the bus’s wheels. The lawsuit names more than a dozen defendants, including the superintendent, bus driver, each school board member, and other officials. Most are named in both their individual and official capacities.
It takes a certain amount of gross negligence and general stupidity to forget that one placed explosive material on a school bus. The CIA has emerged with a bit of egg on its face by failing so miserably at all things intelligence when it did just that: according to numerous reports, including School Transportation News, the agency “inadvertently left” explosive material on a school bus after a training exercise with Virginia law enforcement. But don’t worry, no one was put in harm’s way. The local sheriff’s office and the CIA both assert that students were not in any real danger and those who may have been affected were alerted to the malfeasance, as “parents of students who might have ridden the bus while the training material was on board were contacted” a short time before this was made public. Officials claim the training program has been suspended pending a review, saying other buses “that were used or were near the training exercise” have been searched as well. The agency is conducting an independent evaluation of the K-9 program while also beefing up its inventory and control procedures.
