Denise Donaldson, editor in chief of Safe Ride News, called the second edtion of The School Bs Safety Handbook an “extensive update” as it features reorganized chapters and a new section addressing wheelchair safety and securement.
“The first two parts (of five total chapters) are still dedicated to the same subjects as the first edition, but I felt the flow within each chapter needed reorganizing to make it easier to read, and also easier for use as a reference guide,” Donaldson told STN. “In reworking the flow, I also rewrote essentially all of the text.”
Published in June, the Handbook’s new section on wheelchairs was peer reviewed “extensively,” said Donaldson, by several student transportation experts, including Miriam Manary, a senior research associate at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute as well as Sue Johnson, director of education at Columbia Medical, and Sue Shutrump, supervisor of OT/PT Services for Trumbull County (Ohio) Educational Service Center and a tenured faculty member of the Transporting Students with Disabilities and Preschoolers National Conference. Donaldson added that the reviewers indicated that the information contained is not readily available anywhere else.
The two new chapters on wheelchairs include information such as where to locate securement stations, selecting securement anchorages, selecting wheelchair tie downs, equipping buses with lap-shoulder belts for wheelchair riders and securing them on the students, transferring students from wheelchairs to an appropriate school-bus seat or child safety restraint system (CSRS), and loading wheelchairs on the bus.
Donaldson added that all product-specific information was reviewed and approved by the manufacturers (CSRS and bus seating), so it accurately reflects all current products. Additionally, updates to school-bus-related regulations that have occurred since the first edition published in 2009 are reflected. Other updates include:
- Guidance on CSRS selection based on the age, size, and needs of the student
- CSRS options by anchorage type and on seating restrictions that apply when CSRS have a cam wrap or tether
- Proper care and maintenance of CSRS
- CSRS-specific detail regarding emergency evacuation
