whereYou Look
Different Landscapes Federal law requires bus companies to adhere to stringent
hours-of-service regulations, but these just govern interstate trips and exempt regular home-to-school transportation routes. Similarly, on April 1, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admin- istration published a proposed rule to limit text messaging by commercial bus and truck drivers engaged in interstate service, building upon guidance issued to states in January for developing legislative language to prohibit school bus drivers from texting or using cell phones. But the FMCSA said that other proposed rules banning texting and cell phones by drivers, possibly includ- ing regular school bus drivers, were on the way. When it comes to actual laws, only 18 states prohibit school bus drivers from using cell phones. Meanwhile, another 22 states have laws against texting for all drivers. [Texas is the only state that currently bans school bus drivers spe- cifically from texting.] Pennsylvania is one of 17 states without any law banning mobile communications devices behind the wheel. But, at this writing, bills to ban all drivers, including school bus drivers, from using cell phones was
moving through the House and Senate. Selina Pittenger, executive director of the Pennsylvania
School Bus Association, said she expected the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to propose school bus regulations forbidding cell phone usage. Additional- ly, beginning this fall, Penn DOT will provide school districts and contractors with the severity of any crashes, i.e., noting that an injury, fatality or property damage resulted, when releasing the complete com- mercial driver history for a potential new hire for all Internet searches to match those records obtained via U.S. mail.
To the west, Ohio also does not have any law banning cell
phone use by all drivers, but the state does have regulations that forbid school bus drivers from such an activity. Indiana only prohibits newly-licensed drivers from using a cell phone or texting while driving. Tese states exemplify the many different environments of
what is and is not acceptable nationwide, at least when it comes to cell phone usage. But that doesn’t mean individual districts don’t have their own policies in place. “What our state association put out was a recommendation
on no cell phone use by school bus drivers, and we just built upon that,” said Cheryl Wolf, the transportation safety trainer for Lafayette School Corporation near Indianapolis. “But there is no state law.” She added that the district is working on adding a no-texting
requirement.
Managing Distractions Tis all means that local districts and bus companies must
remain vigilant on how they train drivers on defensive driving techniques — a staple for the industry — and how they enforce other safety practices. After all, Wolf said, there are many other things besides cell phones that can prove to be as distracting to bus drivers, ev- erything from counting the number of stop arm violators at bus stops to dealing with misbehaving children onboard the bus. “Tese are all driver distrac- tions, so we have to train our drivers to react to them appropri- ately and as calmly as possible while still doing all of the other things neces- sary for them to be a safe driver,” added Wolf, who is scheduled to moderate a panel
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