School Transportation News Magazine | November 2009


[Industry Connections]


In Brief DISTRACTION MAY LEAD TO DISQUALIFICATION Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (pictured at right) an-


nounced last month during a national summit on distracted driving that the Department of Transportation was work- ing with Congress on drafting legislation that would revoke a school bus driver’s CDL if convicted of texting while behind the wheel. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 17 states have laws that specifically ban school bus drivers from using cell phones while operating school buses. Meanwhile, 10 states specifically ban texting by all drivers. New York law went into effect this month. Colorado and North Carolina will have a similar laws go into effect on Dec. 1, followed by Oregon and New Hampshire on Jan. 1, 2010. LaHood also said there could be federal legislation that would


ban all drivers, especially newly-licensed teens, from operating any cell phone or other electronic equipment while driving. A day earlier, on Sept. 30, President Obama signed an Executive Order that prohibits all federal employees from text messaging while driving a government- or privately-owned vehicle while conducting official business.


UNPAID DAYS FOR BUS DRIVERS TO SAVE LOS ANGELES UNIFIED $1 MILLION A Los Angeles school bus drivers union reached an agreement


on Sept. 22 with the local school board to accept six furlough days this school year so that the district could restore an extra work hour each day. Due to budget cuts, the Los Angeles Unified School District


originally proposed reducing hours for full-time drivers from eight to seven hours per work day. Te deal will impose a six-day furlough for all 1,092 full-time and part-time drivers. Te school board said negotiations continue for additional furlough days for all classified workers. “While unpaid days are a sacrifice for our families, we under-


stand it is a necessary sacrifice to protect good jobs in this hard economy and to secure services to students,” said Edward Reed, an LAUSD bus driver and president of SEIU Local 99. “Tis agree- ment means more bus routes won’t be cut. It means full time jobs are protected now and into the future. And it means the district saves $1 million. It is an example of what can be done when we work cooperatively for real solutions.” LAUSD Board President Monica Garcia commended the


driver union for setting an example of “shared sacrifice and shared solutions.”


SCHOOL TESTS CARPOOLING PROGRAM Southern Hills Middle School in Boulder, Colo., is launching a pi-


lot carpooling program that will send family contact information to neighbors with the hopes of connecting parents who drive their kids to school. Te school utilizes an opt-out program that auto- matically shares phone numbers and addresses with neighbors un- less a special request is made that the information remain private. “We have gone to great lengths to identify those families that do not wish to give information,” Boulder Valley’s Student Transpor- tation Coordinator Landon Hilliard said. “We know it’s a sensitive


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issue.” Te district is starting the community carpooling programs at middle schools because those students are more independent and mobile but still rely on adults for rides, Hilliard said. Boulder Valley received a $100,000 federal grant this year to revive the car- pooling program at Southern Hills and to start a go-by-bus pro- gram that encourages students to ride a transit bus if they don’t have access to a school bus or a parent carpool.


NTSB CALLS ON STATES TO PASS BOOSTER SEAT LEGISLATION Te National Transportation Safety Board called upon Arizona,


Florida and South Dakota to join the rest of the country by pass- ing booster seat legislation, as the feds have recommended since 1996. Te U.S. territories of American Samoa and Puerto Rico also lack booster seat laws for children. “Unfortunately, there are three states and two U.S. territories that still do not mandate booster seats for children,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah Hers- man. “My colleagues and I hope that 2010 is the year that these legislatures will adopt this best practice and increase our young children’s safety in cars across this entire country.” Earlier this year Alaska, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, Guam and the


U.S. Virgin Islands enacted booster seat legislation, bringing the total to 47 states and three territories (the Northern Mariana Is- lands, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands) that mandate booster seats, though only 26 states mandate their use through age sev- en, as the board recommended.


FMCSA FINES SCHOOL BUS COMPANY FOR VIOLATING SAFETY REGS Te Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a civil


penalty notice to Lehane’s Bus Service, Inc., of New Castle, Del., for alleged federal motor carrier safety violations. Te $83,120 fine was the result of an investigation by FMCSA’s Delaware Di- vision into the school bus company’s safety compliance record. Among the violations cited were: employing a driver who tested positive for a controlled substance; failing to conduct periodic, random drug and alcohol testing; operating vehicles without the required federal minimum levels of insurance; and operating


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