a collision to occur. Further, in consider- ing this reality, it is also important to keep in mind that the volume of “pass-bys” has been measured to reveal enormous num- bers and percentages, and every school day, tens of millions of students cross from their buses when alighting during their after-school return trips home.
RUDIMENTS AND REPERCUSSIONS While the vast majority of school dis-
tricts simply follow the rudiments, and one may argue that they comprise the industry standard, I do not consider the industry standard to merely represent what most school districts (or any parties in a lawsuit) do. I consider it to be what most “reasonable and prudent” school districts or parties do.
I am not arguing that every school
district must immediately have a driver escort its students across the roadway (much less in the manner that the two fellow drivers above testified they did). On the other hand, the almost universal procedures in the other 48 states lie far below such standards. In a crossing-relat- ed lawsuit, the school district employing typical industry procedures is at great risk if and when a crossing student is struck by a passing vehicle. In most school bus crossing-related lawsuits in which I have been involved, I have found evidence of a considerable number of other errors and omissions
(poorly-located stops, errors
in flasher engagement, failure to prop- erly direct students across the roadway, broken equipment, dirty windshields or poorly-adjusted mirrors, dysfunctional rudimentary crossing policies, etc.). Tese helped to crucify the school district such that the mere criticism of their perfectly- executed but rudimentary procedures was not even needed. As is the theme of most of my install-
ments on crossing, many of the crossing procedures employed almost universally by the pupil transportation community seem somewhat primitive for a devel- oped country whose astronauts landed on the moon 41 years ago. We may feel good that we transport our students in separate vehicles designed specifically to facilitate their safe crossing and safe transportation in other respects — in- cluding safeguarding them, to a great degree, from the 52,800 non-family ab- ductions that occur in the United States every year. But in a courtroom, this “feel goodness” is often not enough. And this reality ignores the fact that
some countries have crossing fatality percentages that are far lower than ours despite transporting their students in transit buses or motorcoaches. Sweden’s goal for vehicle-pedestrian accidents is, in fact, zero. Te troubling thing about our goals and statistics is the fact that, with- out school buses, the Swedes are actually closer to meeting theirs. n
Einstein is an expert witness and owner of Trans-Consult in New York. He can be reached at
einstein@transalt.com.
84 School Transportation News Magazine July 2010
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