Eaton shared his four secrets that anyone, not just stu-


dent transporters, can adopt to turn their careers and their lives around: know your job, do what you’re asked to do, make other people on your team look good, and pro- tect your other teammates. He quoted the late, great UCLA basketball coach John


Wooden, who once said: “A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player.” Proving that victims of motorists who illegally pass


school buses have a face and a name, NASDPTS on Friday heard from Kim Koenigs, executive director of the Worth County Development Authority in northern Iowa about her efforts to introduce legislation in response to the death of 7-year-old Kadyn Halverson, who was struck and killed while walking to her school bus on May 10. Te school bus was stopped with stop arm extended


and red lights flashing when Kadyn began to cross the street from her babysitter’s house. Just then, a man driving a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado pickup came along and struck the first grader. He did not stop and dragged Kadyn some 200 feet before her body was thrown free, face down in a ditch. Later, when he was arrested, the driver reportedly said he thought he had hit a deer before adding, “I hope it wasn’t a kid.” Marijuana was later found in his system. “After I got mad, I went to work. Tis has not just af-


fected one family,” said Koenigs, who was a co-worker of Kadyn’s mother. Koenig’s youngest daughter was also a former classmate of Kadyn. She is attempting to get a bill introduced next year


that would require mandatory jail time for any driver who kills a child and is later found to have drugs or alco- hol in their system. “It’s about educating people that they have to stop for


school buses, that things have to change,” she added. Her emotional presentation came on the heels of in-


creased discussion amongst the state directors and other interested parties on a national count of stop-arm viola- tions performed earlier this year, which is intended to be repeated annually. Already, Washington State has passed a law that not only allows school districts to equip stop arms with video cameras but also scheduled May 1 each year as the date that school bus drivers record illegal pass bys. On a brighter note, NASDPTS Executive Director Bob


Riley and North Carolina state director Derek Graham reported on a federal motorcoach safety forum they at- tended earlier this year in Washington, D.C., called to continue work toward improving vehicle standards amid several, recent high-profile crashes. During the event, Ri- ley said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood men- tioned that the motorcoach industry could learn from the school bus industry in how it has self-policed itself over the years to ensure the utmost in safety and opera- tional standards. But with that said, Graham reminded attendees that


states and local school districts must remain on top of ef- forts to increase motorcoach safety because the vehicles can be heavily relied upon for transporting high school sports teams, bands and other student charter groups.


OCT. 21 - OCT. 27 | 2011


He said the motorcoach industry, itself, communicated that its biggest concern centers


on small carriers that fail to meet safety requirements. Other challenges continue to be driver fatigue and driver distractions, adding that the latter not only includes other motor- ists on the road or mobile communications devices used while behind the wheel but the growing use of technology in the bus. Te issue is central to this industry, Graham said, because student transporters are too


often left out of the loop when scheduling these motorcoach trips. Instead, the task is often left to or initiated by school principals, coaches or teachers who have little or no experience in what the necessary steps are to selecting a safe carrier. ■


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