INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS In Brief
DATA INDICATES SPIKE IN SCHOOL BUS ‘DANGER ZONE’ DEATHS While a final national report had yet
to be released, School Transportation News learned that student fatalities occur- ring while loading or unloading the school bus nearly tripled during the 2008-2009 school year from the previous year’s study. Eighteen students died in the so-
called “danger zone” around the school bus when it was stopped and either re- ceiving or discharging students during the morning or afternoon rides. Only five student fatalities occurred during 2007-2008 and seven the year prior. Te 18 fatalities were the most since 20 were recorded in 2004-2005. Since 1970, the Kansas State Depart-
ment of Education has prepared the National School Bus Loading and Un- loading Survey that tracks the number of student deaths at the hands of their own school buses or as a result of other motor- ists illegally passing stopped school buses. It relies on accurate reporting from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In the last 39 years, 1,161 children have
died while loading and unloading. More than two-thirds of these students were eight years old or younger.
STILL WAITING FOR JOBS BILL, SAFETEA-LU EXTENSION Te 111th Congress went into its
Christmas recess with two very big items re- maining on its agenda of major importance to education and the related service of transportation: jobs and highway funding. In December, the House passed its version,
H.R. 2847, of the 154 billion jobs bill by the skin of its teeth, 217 votes for to 212 against. As a result, the National Association of School Transportation wrote to its members that passage in the Senate will be difficult. While funds to create and retain
education jobs is vital for teachers and transportation professionals alike, the lat- ter group should be especially interested in the future of the current surface trans- portation bill. SAFETEA-LU expired at the end of September, but Congress has now extended it twice to keep federal funds
No, but it’s been considered: 7%
Yes: 15% No: 78%
flowing to states. A provision of the jobs bill, H.R. 2847, would provide a further ex- tension until Sept. 30, 2010. In addition, 100 percent of the federal
share on transportation projects would continue through the current fiscal year, and lost interest on the highway trust fund would be restored. It would also repeal a restriction that blocks the High- way Trust Fund from earning interest and ensure that fuel tax exemptions are taken from the general fund instead of the trust fund. Te school bus industry, especially, is hopeful that its fuel tax exemptions won’t be taken away to help give a shot in the arm to the depleted Highway Trust Fund. Tere’s also a SAFETEA-LU provision in
the $636 billion Defense Appropriations Act, H.R. 3326, passed by the House by a much wider 395 to 34 vote. NSTA said the legislation extends SAFETEA-LU and the provisions of the current continuing reso- lution for Highway Trust Fund programs through Feb. 28, 2010, the likely operable next deadline.
LATEST STIMULUS FUNDS FOR INCREASED FUEL ECONOMY Tree manufacturers with school bus
ties received a combined total of more than $116 million from the U.S. Department of Energy for improving fuel efficiency in Class 8 SuperTrucks. Te R&D programs could trickle down to the medium-duty school bus market sooner rather than later. Cummins won nearly $39 million, in
part for developing a cleaner, more ef- ficient, diesel engine, an advanced waste heat recovery system and a fuel cell auxil-
14 School Transportation News Magazine February 2010
iary power unit to reduce idling. Daimler Trucks, which owns Tomas Built Buses, got $39.5 million for engine downsizing, electrification of auxiliary systems, waste heat recovery, improved aerodynamics, and hybridization. Meanwhile, Navistar, which owns IC Bus, is receiving $37.3 million for improved truck and trailer aero- dynamics, combustion efficiency, waste heat recovery, hybridization, idle reduction and reduced rolling resistance tires. “What [school bus manufacturers] have
said is they’re putting some of that money to work on electric technology for a school bus that can run an extended route on bat- tery power versus having to switch over to a hybrid diesel,” said Robert Pudlewski, an STN contributor and school bus technol- ogy consultant. “It appears that the money will go to good use to coming up to an alt technology than what we have today.” A Navistar spokesman said there were
no immediate plans to use the stimulus funds at IC Bus but that new technology would “trickle down” to school buses.
SCHOOL BUS DRIVER SENTENCED TO 151 YEARS IN PRISON An Orange County (Calif.) school bus
driver convicted of molesting and taking pornographic photographs of young girls was sentenced to 151 years to life in pris- on. Terry Lee Shields, 55, was convicted in December of 15 felony counts, including kidnapping, forcible lewd acts on a minor child and using a minor for sex acts. Shields’ victims were ages 5, 7, and 11.
Te former bus driver for the Los Alamitos School District was arrested in 2006 after
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