INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS
Hurricane Irene Causes Flooding, Closures at Startup Following Hurricane Irene in August, schools from North
Carolina to New England had to clean up wreckage and deal with floodwaters as many schools opened for the new year. Judith Dupille, vehicle safety director for the Massachusetts
Registry of Motor Vehicles, said the storm could have been worse, despite widespread flooding, power outages and at least 44 deaths, according to
msnbc.com. But as the storm bore down on North Carolina and the rest of the Atlantic seaboard, several districts cancelled school. All Dare County (N.C.) Public Schools remained closed until Sept. 1, according to David Twiddy, the district’s transportation director. Dare County serves the Outer Banks area and was one of the hardest hit in the state, as Twiddy reported that 85 percent of the county was flooded. He told School Transportation News that the call was made Wednes- day at 7:30 p.m. in consultation with the district’s emergency management department. Twiddy dispatched drivers to retrieve all school buses except two vehicles needed for evacuations. Read more at
www.stnonline.com/go/835.
Dare County (N.C.) school buses head back to the Outer Banks following Hurricane Irene.
Bus Mechanic Offers First- Person Account of Virginia
Earthquake August’s magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Virginia struck as
Louisa County School District mechanics were servicing school buses and other vehicles. Lead mechanic Donnie Tomas was sitting at his desk doing paperwork when he heard a loud noise and felt the building shaking, he told STN. His first thought was, “Earthquake!” Ten, as the walls began to crumble, Tomas yelled, “We’ve got to get out of here!” He and the other mechanics scrambled for the door. “It seemed like the earthquake just picked the building
up and shook it, because the floor and everything else was vibrating,” he added. Tomas said that, if the earthquake had lasted longer
than the estimated 15 seconds, he is sure the building would have come down, like other nearby buildings in town. Te district and surrounding area lost electricity and telephone services, while the school buses’ two-way radios went down. But, communications were soon restored, and school
buses were deployed in time to deliver students home. Tomas added that the district successfully evacuated all students, and none were injured. Read Tomas’ full account at
www.stnonline.com/go/842.
NHTSA Rejects Require- ment for Lap/Shoulder
Belts on Large School Buses NHTSA denied a petition filed by numerous child safety
organizations that sought a federal rulemaking for the mandatory installation of three-point lap/shoulder belts in all newly manufactured large school buses. NHTSA cited the inherent safety of school buses and
the possible unintended consequences of installing the occupant restraints, such as increased vehicle costs and reduced ridership. Te federal agency also stated that fewer than 1 percent of school transportation–related fatalities occur in school buses, as compared to those while walking (12 percent) or riding in cars (79 percent). Te Center for Auto Safety spearheaded the petition,
along with the American Academy of Pediatrics, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons and Safe Ride News. Petition supporters expressed their dissatisfaction with FVMSS 222, which initially only required compartmentalization in large school buses. NHTSA updated the regulation in 2008 to require lap/shoulder belts in all newly purchased small school buses but stopped short of a requirement for large buses — instead publishing standards for voluntary installation. Te updated school bus occupant protection rule goes into effect this month.
16 School Transportation News Magazine October 2011
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