COVER STORY Everyw
From cell phones to eating to drowsiness, the possibilities of driver distraction are endless and far too deadly for school bus drivers, students and other motorists alike
By Ryan Gray Cell phones have become the trendy embodiment of driver
distraction, but there are truly many different forms of one of the biggest safety threats that exists for today’s drivers — and to kids on and off school buses. Just think how many times you have seen another mo- torist traveling down the road while reading a book or the morning paper. Perhaps a driver is applying lip- stick in the rearview mirror while navigating rush hour traffic on the freeway. Eating a burger with one hand while driving with the other (or worse, yet, with one’s knees), changing the radio station, falling asleep, even holding an ardent conversa- tion with a passenger are all examples of distracting behaviors that can focus a driver’s
concentration away from the road and other traffic. U.S. Trans- portation Secretary Ray LaHood has taken a strong stance against distracted driving, especially with regard to school bus drivers, while being cognizant of their need to be in regular contact with dispatch by using a mobile wireless device, such as either a cell phone or a two-way radio. Te Department of Transportation even has an aptly-named Web site,
Distraction.gov, that gives in- formation on the phenomena. According to the site, there are three types of distracted driving: visual — taking your eyes off the road; manual — taking your hands off the wheel; and cogni-
See theVide
NBCPhiladelphia.com obtained part of the onboard video showing Frederick R. Poust III drive recklessly during a route the morning of Feb. 17, 2010, which resulted in crashing into an oncoming car and killing a man. >> View the video at
www.stnonline.com/go/577.
30 School Transportation News Magazine May 2010
tive — taking your mind off what you’re doing. At least two of these appeared to come into play for a Pennsylvania school bus driver earlier this year. In March, Frederick R. Poust III, an employee of Student
Transportation Inc., the contractor for Perkiomen Valley School District northwest of Philadelphia, was charged by the Montgom- ery County District Attorney’s Office with vehicular homicide after allegedly causing a crash in February by illegally turning left into a middle school parking lot, in the process slamming head-on into an oncoming car and killing a 27-year-old passenger and seriously injuring the 41-year-old driver. Five children onboard the bus also suffered injuries. A spokesman from the dis-
trict attorney’s office said Poust not only failed to stop before turn- ing in front of oncoming traffic but that he was also “driving in an extremely reckless manner” prior to the crash. Tis included run- ning 10 stop signs during that morning’s route, as was captured by an onboard bus video camera. Te Mont- gomery County spokesman also said the crash investigation found that Poust was fatigued at the time of the crash and was in violation of “bus company’s policies.” Local news reports indi- cated that he might have also been talking on a wireless headset sometime before the crash. It was also not the first fatal crash involving Poust. He was cit-
ed 10 years ago when driving for another company for talking on the cell phone, running a stop sign and hitting another car. As a result, 2-year-old Morgan Lee Pena died. Student Trans- portation Inc., said neither the criminal nor motor vehicle reports obtained before hiring Poust last March showed any record of him being charged with a crime or any details about the 1999 crash.
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