SPECIAL REPORT Dallas County Schools Transportation Director
Sees Benefits of Buckling Up First in a three-part series on how school districts across the nation are using lap-shoulder belts and the lessons they’ve learned
By Michelle Fisher During the summer, student transporters focus on maintain-
ing and upgrading the school buses under their purview to ensure maximum safety and performance. For Dallas County Schools (DCS), the upgrade included retrofitting school buses with new C.E. White seats featuring three-point seat belts. Director of Transportation Aaron Hobbs said the district also
ordered 140 new school buses this summer that come equipped with lap and shoulder belts. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. Tat’s why he sent out 180 other buses to have their bench seats replaced with C.E. White’s quasi-static seats, which are 39 inches wide for Type C conventional buses and 30 inches wide for Type A small buses. “Mainly we did this for consistency in the fleet. It’s kind of
like A/C — once you do a certain number, then it’s better to do them all or else it becomes a problem for those who don’t have it. If we’re doing this to ensure safety for the students, then we need to make sure we’re doing it for all of them,” said Hobbs, who oversees the fourth-largest transportation department in the country. DCS operates more than 1,900 buses and transports about 71,000 students daily. In 2007, Texas passed legislation requiring lap/shoulder belts
on all new school buses, but the law could not be enforced un- less districts received funding from the Texas Education Agency. “Te state was requesting that buses be equipped with seat
belts, but the law did not provide any money, so you didn’t have to do it,” Hobbs recalled, noting the DCS school board and super- intendent decided to be compliant for the 2009-2010 school year.
MAKING THE INVESTMENT With so many school transportation departments struggling
financially, how did DCS pay for this upgrade? Compared to a bus with standard seats, seat belts have increased new purchase prices by 8 to 10 percent, Hobbs said. Te district received grant money to retrofit existing buses the first year but not since then. While the majority of DCS’ Type C school buses now have seat
belts, Hobbs said all 527 Type A buses have them because they transport special needs students. “We’ve always equipped those buses with seat belts — not
only for behavior management, but some kids need them to sit up in the seat because of physical limitations,” he explained. “It helps keep the others in their seats, too.”
30 School Transportation News Magazine September 2012 Te seat belts make a difference for all students, especially
younger ones, he continued, because they give bus drivers “better control” while reducing distractions so they can focus on the road. “It’s not one of those instant things — kids need to get used to
the belts,” cautioned Hobbs, who has been with DCS for one year, coming from Houston Independent School District. Originally a school bus driver, Hobbs has spent 33 years working in student transportation. “If you buy them, you need to have a system to make sure
the students wear them. When they don’t, there needs to be reinforcement and support not only from the driver and trans- portation staff but also from administrators, parents, teachers and the community.” Over the years, Hobbs said he learned that much of the gen-
eral public assumed school buses always had seat belts, much like passenger vehicles. “Most people do not understand the compartmentalization
that makes the average school bus much safer than any other vehicle,” he noted. “Te school bus is still the safest mode of transportation for our kids. So the seat belts enhance the al- ready-safe school bus.” Before a new school year, bus drivers check seat belts as part
of regular bus inspections. During in-service training, both drivers and attendants are taught to remind students to buckle up. On the first day of school, students receive training aboard the
school bus that Hobbs said is similar to the instructions airline passengers receive: how to fasten and unfasten seat belts, locate emergency exits and properly evacuate. Students participate in
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