Local support for the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration recommendation that all school buses be equipped with seat belts has been gaining traction countrywide. The NHTSA safety belt push is a reversal from past recommendations. “We want everyone to be riding safely and securely at all times, whether they are in a car or on the school bus,” said one South Carolina program coordinator at Safe Kids Upstate. However, the seat belt requirement may be at odds with how districts want to go forward with the proposal. The South Carolina Dept. of Education, for instance, said they have no plans as of yet to install seat belts on buses. “We always follow state and federal laws and regulations pertaining to school bus safety. Our number one priority is to keep our children safe and we’ll work with state lawmakers and buses that meet all the safety standards,” the district said in a statement. Administrators cite a number of reasons to go forward with the proposal, claiming that to retrofit existing school buses with belts would be costly, with a price tag of up to $20,000 per bus. Currently, school districts are not federally required to have safety belts on school buses that weight more than 10,000 pounds GVWR, but that could soon change.
In an effort to show students the definition of “abuse of power” instead of merely telling them about this example of mistreatment, a police officer was suspended after he pulled over a school bus to confront a child on behalf of his daughter. The male student allegedly acted inappropriately with her. While the officer was off-duty, he used his cruiser to stop the bus. Witnesses admit that he did not use his lights or siren, but once aboard, he got in the face of the child who supposedly pulled his daughter’s hair. “This one? That one? Justin Bieber?” the officer asked his daughter as he hunted for the presumed perpetrator. Once he found his believed culprit, he demanded the boy’s name, asking why he’d touch his daughter. The boy claimed, “I didn’t touch nobody.” This declaration of innocence was deemed insufficient, and the officer ordered the boy to stand and proceeded to yell at him, threatening that he’d call principal. Shortly after, the officer stormed off the bus once he exploited his authority enough. The entire incident was caught on cellphone video. The officer, who has been on the force for two years, was placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.
A bus transporting students to a private school in New Jersey tipped over on an area turnpike after the tires drifted off the side of the road and hit a rock, causing it to fall on its side. Police reported that the two students on board, as well as the driver, emerged from the wreckage unscathed. However, to be sure, the trio was taken to a community hospital for closer examination. The incident occurred in the early parts of the morning and closed the roads for roughly three hours. The police issued the bus driver a ticket for an unsafe lane change.
An elderly gentleman was crossing the street when he was struck by a turning school bus, sending him to the hospital with serious injuries. The school bus driver who hit the 77-year-old pedestrian will likely face no more than a $150 fine, if convicted. Police reported that the school bus driver transporting 18 students made a left turn and slammed into the old man as he walked westbound, crossing the crosswalk on a green light. The elderly gentleman was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The bus driver will only face a charge under the Highway Traffic Act of failing to yield to a pedestrian for her role in an accident. Neither the driver nor the students aboard the school bus were injured.
