Drunk driving always gets a lot of attention around the holidays, but this year it is not only the typical revelers but also some school bus drivers who are a danger on the road.
It is no surprise the National Transportation Safety Board is targeting “substance-impaired drivers” on its Most-Wanted List for 2013. Yet what is surprising is the high number of injuries and fatalities that result from this type of traffic accident.
On Dec. 28 a Vernon, Conn., school bus driver was charged with risk of injury, reckless endangerment and reckless driving after student passengers were injured in a crash eight months ago. Police said Stacey Beaudry tested positive for benzodiazepines, opiates and trace amounts of alcohol police after the crash, according to the Associated Press.
Neighboring New York State has had its share of school bus drivers operating vehicles while impaired, with three DWI cases on Long Island in October alone. The same month, a South Carolina bus driver arrested for DUI tested a .17 BAC after losing control of her school bus. Similar incidents occurred last fall in California, Chicago and Maryland.
In a recent blog, NTSB Chairperson Debbie Hersman said there are 10,000 people nationwide who didn’t make it home for the holidays this year because they lost their lives in substance-impaired driving crashes. These fatalities represent 30 percent of all transportation-related deaths in 2012.
“[It] would take a major commercial airliner crash every week to reach the same number of deaths,” noted Hersman. “Absent is the intense public concern, and there is little media scrutiny of these crashes. Where is the call for increased safety measures? I believe that complacency is part of the problem.”
The NTSB aims to bring greater attention to the issue of drugged driving, a problem she said remains largely unrecognized. Hersman pointed to a recent survey that revealed fewer teen passengers would ask a driver to refrain from driving if he or she had used marijuana (72 percent) as opposed to being drunk (87 percent).
“But while there is compelling evidence that illegal, over-the-counter, and prescription drugs are playing an increasing role in traffic crashes, there are no standards or testing criteria for these substances, and their role in crashes is often under-reported,” she added.
The New York Association for Pupil Transportation expressed concern about this problem among school bus operators after a Long Island bus driver was charged with DWI and child endangerment.
“We are deeply concerned about this incident and find such conduct unbecoming and unacceptable. While this driver has been charged and not convicted, his apparent and alleged actions bring further question on the safety of the yellow school bus,” the association stated.
NYAPT then assured parents the yellow bus is still the safest way to transport children to and from school and vowed that its members would review all practices, policies and training programs to prevent future incidents of this nature.
