INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS In Brief Researchers have coined such a phenomenon “inattention
blindness.” Dr. David L. Strayer of the University of Utah found in 2007 that drivers using cell phones fail to see up to 50 percent of what’s on the road. Yet most legislation targeting distracted driv- ing only focus on texting or using hand-held communications devices. Strayer is schedule to participate in a distracted driving panel held this summer at the STN EXPO. To read the complete paper visit
www.stnonline.com/go/607.
PAYING RESPECT Te school transportation industry recently mourned the loss of
industry leaders Jovon Boyer, Michael Sykes and Gary Taylor. Boyer, who was the transportation director for the South Bend
From left: NSTA President-Elect Magda Dimmendaal, Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-MN) and NSTA President Donnie Fowler.
NSTA, UMA MEMBERS LOBBY CONGRESS, DOT DURING ANNUAL D.C. MEETINGS Te National School Transportation Association and the
United Motorcoach Association hosted a joint meeting for their members on Capitol Hill to discuss the highway reauthorization bill and several other pressing concerns of industry members. Private bus company members of both associations, which share
offices and administrative functions and partner on federal lob- bying efforts, met with elected and appointed federal officials on federal legislation and rules governing school bus and motorcoach operations. Conversations centered on the SAFETEA-LU reautho- rization, which expired last fall but has been extended through the end of this year. Also on the table were discussions about the federal fuel tax exemption, distracted driving, occupant protection, and the health care law, among other issues. Meanwhile, the visit also helped the American School Bus Council succeed in getting enough House and Senate members to sign on to a letter request- ing the U.S. Department of Transportation to fund a two-year, $5 million public awareness campaign to increase school bus ridership.
PAPER DESCRIBES EFFECT OF DISTRACTED DRIVING ON THE HUMAN BRAIN Tose needing proof that even hands-free cell phone conver-
sations while driving are unsafe need to look no further than a white paper published last month by the National Safety Council. “Understanding the Distracted Brain: Why driving while us-
ing hands-free cell phones is risky behavior” does not focus on school bus drivers but instead on all motorists. But the report was at least prompted in part by a January 2004 incident in which a motorist talking on a cell phone ran a red light, speeding past four cars and a school bus, and hit another car in the inter- section, killing a 12-year-old boy in the process.
14 School Transportation News Magazine June 2010
(Ind.) Community School Corporation, was only 41 years old at the time of his passing in April. He had complained of indiges- tion and was short of breath following surgery to repair a bowel obstruction and two hernias, his wife Kistra Johnson-Boyer told the local paper. He returned to the hospital and died the next day. “He loved transportation. He will be missed,” said Dale Goby of Goby and Associates Consulting and Management Services in Clarkston, Mich., who was Boyer’s former supervisor. Sykes, who lived his entire life in Richmond, Ind., died April 10
at a local hospital. He was 59. During his career he spent time in school bus engineering and sales for U.S. Bus, Carpenter Body Works and Wayne Works. Taylor from Taylor Bus Sales based in Murray, Ky., suffered a
major heart attack at the age of 56, leaving behind a long career in the school bus industry. He was well respected and admired by all that knew him.
MISSOURI CUTS ADDITIONAL $8 MILLION FROM SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION BUDGET Facing a daunting financial situation, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon
announced another $45 million in budget cuts after state rev- enue collections fell 19 percent in April. Included in the cuts is an additional $8 million that is to be slashed from the school transportation budget, which had already been depleted by $4 million earlier this year, bringing the total cuts to $12 million, or seven percent of the previous budget. Tis newest round of cuts brings the total budget reduction for the state this year to more than $900 million.
PORTLAND DRIVER, SCHOOL ARE CONSTANTS FOR HOMELESS STUDENTS As a bus driver for Portland (Ore.) Community Transitional
School, a private institution for students from homeless and poor families, Penny Scrivner has a route that changes on a daily basis. But for the students she transports, they know that no matter where they are, Scrivner will pick them up and take them to their school. She travels around the city, to shelters, motels, church basements, low income apartments or even to places where kids live with their family in their car. Scrivner had planned to retire this
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