The Warm Up After preliminary introductions by pre-conference present-


ers Dick Fischer of Trans-Consult and Peter Lawrence of Fairport (N.Y.) Central School District, the duo’s “danger zone” driver’s ed class started off a packed schedule of workshops that covered the hottest topics in special needs, safety and security, Head Start, maintenance and operations management. Fischer, while talking about some of his worldly travels, pointed out the one commonal- ity that binds all bus drivers — the passengers behind them. Te smallest school bus passengers were the focus of the con-


ference’s other pre-con workshop, “Child Passenger Restraint Systems on School Buses.” Te NHTSA-approved, eight-hour class featured the talents of EXPO regulars Cheryl Wolf, Charley Kennington, Sue Shutrump and Jean Zimmerman and featured a hands-on portion during the second part of the class on Sunday.


General Sessions Abound Distracted driving was the focal point of the conference’s in-


troductory session, which included a panel of experts weighing in on a topic that not only affects this industry but every other driver on the road. Dr. David Strayer, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah and director of the Applied Cognition Lab and director of the Center for the Prevention of Distracted Driving, began the conversation with a warning. “We are facing an epidemic of driver distraction that could get


worse before it gets better,” said Dr. Strayer, whose father was a school bus driver. Dr. Strayer went on to explain the driver distraction triad,


separating on-road distractions into visual, cognitive and man- ual categories. Cell phones, whether talking or texting, fell into all three categories, as drivers take their eyes off the road when looking to see who is calling, lose focus when having conversa- tions and take their hands off the wheel when texting. “After reading Dr. Strayer’s research, I have vowed to never an-


swer my cell phone again while driving,” admitted Cheryl Wolf, the panel’s moderator. Strayer’s data has been widely cited by the


U.S. Department of Transportation in its fight against distracted driving, and Strayer has been a guest on the “Oprah Winfrey Show.” Sunday was brought to a close with another


general session, this time discussing one of the in- dustry’s oldest hot topics — seat belts. NASDPTS president and Florida State Director Charlie Hood spoke on his experiences with lap belts and the fight that led to their inclusion on the state’s school buses, while Tina Heily, author and developer of the nationally-recognized EPIC Transportation Safety Education Curriculum for Pre-School Chil- dren, touched upon the topic of transitioning pre-school children to the elementary school bus, one which may not have the seat belts they have grown accustomed to. Capistrano Unified School District’s Michael Patton has also seen the inclusion of seat belts on buses throughout California, but he has yet to experience the issue first-hand. Still, he has refrained from purchasing new school buses since the law went into effect in 2005. “We’re the land of the unfunded mandate,” said Patton, who


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admitted that although many industry reps within the state fought the law, there was “no way” they were going to win the fight in the court of public opinion. Several of the panelists also pointed out that both lap belts or


lap/shoulder restraints can improve student behavior on the bus. A few audience members also pointed out that parents want seat belts, and the industry should do everything in its power to be advocates for total child safety, regardless of cost, especially since there is evidence that school bus seat manufacturers have solved reduced capacity issues with flexible seating.


First Time’s a Charm In its first-ever appearance at the STN EXPO, a workshop that


took months to plan and coordinate went off without a hitch, even with all the moving parts involved. Trough a number of phone conversations, e-mails and a few face-to-face meetings, Charley Kennington, Cheryl Wolf, Head Start expert Susan Hunt, Jean Zim- merman, PTSI’s Kathy Furneaux and recently retired fleet director Denny Coughlin put together a session that showed attendees the difficulties involved with evacuating a smoking bus, the need to plan for an unexpected event and the necessity of training. “It needs to be very clear who’s doing what, in what order, dur-


ing an evacuation,” reminded Furneaux, adding that individual evacuation plans can help drivers understand the details sur- rounding the evacuation of certain special needs students. After examples of how to safely remove students from a burn-


ing bus, attendees were given the opportunity to walk on to a “smoked” bus and experience the blindness that occurs in a thick cloud of theater smoke.


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