£ Technicians with Fort Wayne (Ind.) Community Schools inspect school
bus brakes. The district received state approval for a retrofit that alerts the driver that the parking brake is not set.
PROCESSING AIR BRAKE MAINTENANCE Check
AND SAFETY ON SCHOOL BUSES WRITTEN BY JOHN WHELAN
Since the dawn of the 20th century, highway
transport vehicles have been operating with air brake systems. Since then, technology has grown exponentially, and air brake systems have been re-engineered to perform more efficiently and, above all, more safely to prevent failures. Carrying cargo is one thing, but transporting school children makes air brake safety a top priority for school districts and bus operators. There are no limits to making sure air brake systems in school buses are going to do the job. There is also no written rule that professionals in the transportation industry cannot improvise (once approved) on an existing air brake system to make it even safer for operators and passengers.
INDIANA SCHOOL DISTRICT FINDS SOLUTION TO DANGEROUS SITUATION
Fort Wayne Community Schools and MacAllister
Machinery Co. of Indiana worked together to manufacture a retrofit for school buses to make them safer. Tis school district is the largest in the state, and over the years had en- countered drivers not applying the air brake system parking brake with the bus transmission in neutral. Transportation Director Gary Lake said he has encour-
aged bus manufacturers to come up with a system that would warn drivers that the vehicle is in neutral and the parking brake has not been set, preventing the bus from rolling freely when parked on a hill. Te most significant accident in Fort Wayne involved a
driver who dropped off children for a field trip. Once the driver exited the bus, it started to roll down the hill towards a busy roadway. Te driver tried to get back onboard the bus to bring it to a stop, but ended up falling and was run over by the rear wheels. After another less serious accident occurred, the discus-
sion again centered on solving this problem, since Lake said that simply waiting for a manufacturer to respond would prove too risky. Brian Woodring, McAllister’s prod- uct service and support specialist, heard about the challenge and came up with an idea to install a low-pressure air switch on the air brake engage button and wire it to the
64 School Transportation News March 2013
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