EDITORIAL DESK
MADE THE NEXT MORNING. In other words, the time I usually require to prepare for the next day is spent relaxing with my wife and kids either in the backyard, at my father-in-law’s pool or on a nice walk on a cool summer night. But, once September comes, it all changes, which is unlike many of you who spend most of the summer prepping for the upcoming school year. Yes, it’s an overused and clichéd expression, but as many of us know, the devil is in the details.
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Are You Prepared? By Stephane Babcock
Every bus is undergoing its annual or semi-annual physical to make sure everything in is the saf- est possible shape. Training sessions, whether on-site or at state and national conferences, keep everyone abreast of the hottest topics and the newest best practices. And, for some, practice makes perfect with occasional activity trips or a couple weeks of trotting around unhappy sum- mer school students. In this edition of STN, our annual “Back to School” issue, we looked (and I say “looked” because
since you’re on the last page, I’m sure you’ve already read everything before this) at how schools are saving money by refurbishing vehicles, something that is making more fiscal sense for school districts who have seen their budgets dramatically cut. Ten there was the topic of prepping for the oncoming winter and how the climate change may affect the steps many schools are taking in their processes. And finally, the debate on traditional versus year-round school schedules. And while there are advan- tages and disadvantages to both, from a child’s perspective, summer is only summer if you have no school (all four of my kids, even my youngest who has yet to begin kindergarten, agreed). But there are other things on the horizon that many in the industry are preparing for, including
an announcement of the final results of the University of Alabama seat belt study. At the end of this month, after briefing both Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and his seat belt task force, the study’s team of researchers will hold a press conference on their findings and make all the data available online for the industry to peruse and pick apart. Tere will be some that will use the data (which could weigh in on support for either side of the issue) as another call to arms. But, even with a report that quells the fears of many within the industry and, just for argument’s sake, a blank check to pay for the re- straints from the federal government, would that change anything? During one of the STN EXPO’s general sessions this summer, presenter Dick Fischer mentioned that, even if the government fully financed a seat belt ruling, it would take 50 years to actually see a universal acceptance and usage of the belts, not to mention the amount of time it would take to perform all the modifications. So why did it seem so easy for the automobile industry? In actuality, it wasn’t easy at all. After a little research, I learned that seat belts were first patented in 1885 by a New Yorker named
Edward J. Claghorn, but the first lap-should belt design wasn’t actually patented until 66 years later, in 1951. Ten, in 1968, NHTSA decided to mandate that all new cars include seat belts at all seating positions. But the first state seat belt law wasn’t passed until New York decided it should require vehicle occupants to wear seat belts in late 1984. To date, every state in the nation has some type of seat belt law concerning adults except for New Hampshire. So, if we look at the math on this, it took 17 years from the patent stage of lap-shoulder belts to the government requiring some type of safety belt in all cars, another 16 years before someone decided to mandate their use and about another decade before almost every state passed some type of seat belt law for passenger cars. According to NHTSA’s National Occupant Protection Use Survey, seat belt use in 2008 stood at 83 percent. But this is predicated on probability-based observed data, not exact science. For me, seat belts have always been a part of driving and riding, and I was surprised to learn of the time it took for the evolution to take place. So how are you preparing for the possibility of seat belts on all school buses? With the deadline
for the seat belt final rule on Type A buses looming in the not too distant future, should we be con- cerned about the next step in the evolution of seat belt laws? And if it our industry does eventually mirror the automobile industry, should we fight it along the way or just accept the inevitable? I don’t have the answers to any of these questions, unfortunately, but I definitely have my opinions, ones that I will save for conversations and not for the written word. n
LTHOUGH I DON’T GET MY SUMMERS OFF (WHICH IS ALWAYS A SHOCK TO MY CHIL- DREN), MY NIGHTS AT HOME ARE MUCH MORE RELAXED. THERE IS NO HOMEWORK TO HELP WITH, NO SCHOOL CLOTHES TO WASH AND GET READY, AND NO LUNCHES TO BE
58 School Transportation News Magazine September 2010
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