Drivers for Douglass Unified School District 396 will soon receive a formal handbook that not only spells out the dangers of driving through flooded areas, but expressly forbids the practice, after a bus was swept off a bridge last week.
He told STN the district did not have a written policy about bus drivers avoiding flooded roads because “you would think it would be common sense.” But now a safety committee that includes a couple of drivers will formalize the new procedures. The district operates seven regular routes.
On Oct. 31, a substitute driver navigated the bus across a rural bridge that was overrun by a surging creek due to about 3.5 inches of rain fall during the past 36 hours. The water on the bridge ran about 12 to 16 inches deep, according to Director of Transportation Robert Young, and carried the bus off the side of the bridge and into the creek. The bus rested on its right side in about four feet of water.
The 10 students on board suffered minor bumps and bruises, and the driver injured his hip after cutting himself loose from his seat and falling against the loading doors. He is also recovering from a mild case of hypothermia sustained while he stood in the creek to await emergency personnel to arrive on scene. Young said that when he arrived about 15 minutes after the bus overturned all the students were sitting safely and calmly on top of the bus. It was only after first responders got them to the river bank that several of the students “broke down a bit,” according to Young.
Young added that the bus carried fewer passengers than usual that afternoon because of the day’s Halloween activities.
He further explained that the route taken that day had not been used by the district for the past year and a half. Normally the creek that the bridge spans runs dry, but Young noted that during rainy season that run-off can move “pretty good.” He added that summer and fall have been especially wet seasons.
“He just wasn’t thinking, I guess,” Young said, confirming that the sub driver has since been suspended.
Meanwhile, inside the bus was about two feet of standing water. Aside from a completely flooded engine, Young said initial inspection uncovered only minor damage to the 1995 model-year bus. But further damage was caused when tow truck righted the vehicle, enough so that Young said the bus will be retired. The bus, the oldest in Douglass’ fleet, was just a couple of years shy of the mandated 20-year retirement age in Kansas.
Only two weeks earlier, on Oct. 17, Young said he met with drivers to talk specifically about the danger of flooded roads. The district also peforms frequent emergency evacuation drills with drivers and students.
“I told (the drivers) it only takes a few inches to wash a car off the road, and it doesn’t take much more to do the same with school buses,” he said. “If you don’t see the road because of water, stay out of it.”
