“With the Quantum XII tablet solution,
we use a Bluetooth wireless connection to the electronic control module and we have a code reader that can take codes. From those codes, we translate them and put them into alerts like our swerving, braking or reckless driving alerts or the wear- ing-seatbelt alert,” Gallagher said. “But the seat belt alert is one of the very few alerts that school districts are
not talking about much. It’s not at the forefront of their minds at all … probably because they’re under such tight economic restraints.”
Read a summary of the six state laws on school-bus seat belts at
www.stnonline.com/go/seatbeltlaw
Protecting the Seats Rick Smith, OEM marketing and sales
manager at SynTec Seating Solutions, told STN the company’s black seatbacks are making a difference in the fight against van- dalism. He is pleased Dallas County Schools in Texas requested this feature in its recent 2,500-seat order, following the lead of the Clark County School District in Nevada. “Te really cool part about Dallas’ order
is they adopted the same thinking as Clark County — they have decided to put black seatbacks on all of our seats, thus tremen- dously reducing the amount of graffiti. Frank Giordano at Clark County pioneered that effort, and it’s universal in Las Vegas,” said Smith. “His latest survey shows about a 40-percent reduction in vandalism.” Tis feature is exclusive to Tomas Built Buses and works with every model, whether it is a flip seat, ICS or lap-shoulder belt seat, he explained. “Tey put me to task to test the puncture
resistance of the different vinyls. Te stitch- ing and zippers we put on the S3 seats are all stronger than vinyl itself. We’re looking for some way to reduce the amount of seat covers we have to replace,” Smith added. At the 2011 STN EXPO, Heavy Duty
Bus Parts showed a prototype of its own an- ti-vandalism seat, the iSkin. It’s a one-piece, integrally bonded polyurethane foam seat the company said would eventually replace traditional vinyl over foam. Tough still in development, a company
spokesman said school districts have ex- pressed interest in reducing the costs associ- ated to replacing vandalized seat covers. Te iSkin boasts a denser, vinyl-like substrate skin that is resistant to pokes, cuts and tears and, in doing so, creates a barrier to the foam inside. Te spokesman noted that there are additional safety benefits because the skin protects the foam from degradation and eliminates the risk of resulting fires.
£ SynTec Seating Solution says its black seatbacks help prevent graffiti.
64 School Transportation News August 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76