ed from the 2009 death of a kindergartener. A year later, the department installed video systems on 100 new buses and rolled them out onto the city’s streets. At first, the district even had the responsibility of writing up and submitting reports to the police; later it began working with third-party vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS). Te cameras were accompanied by rigorous outreach focusing on
driver education and a public awareness campaign featuring Cobb County’s safety mascot Hawkeye. Tese efforts resulted in a reduction of illegal passing incidents from a daily rate of 1,900 to the present number of under 900 per day. Grisham was also on a panel on stop arm cameras during the 2012 NAPT and NASDPTS conferences. Currently, 13 percent of CCSD school buses have stop arm cameras, but Grisham said he plans to expand that number in early 2018. After negotiation of the contract renewal with ATS, he said, “we’re hopeful to raise it to 25 percent under the new contract.” Another nationally recognized program in Cobb County is the
Safe Rider student management program, and Grisham’s team is training other districts in the area on its use. “I feel like my role as a director is to help other districts, mostly smaller ones, that may not have resources—time, or education,” said Grisham. “We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. Let’s just share what we have and network.” Grisham also adapted the S.O.A.R. (Safe, Orderly And Respect- ful) program from a neighboring district for Cobb County. Classes
“I feel like my role as a director is to help other districts,
mostly smaller ones, that may not have resources, time or education…Let’s just share
what we have and network.” —Rick Grisham
and assemblies for kindergarten through eighth-grade students review safety rules such as orderly bus stop behavior, boarding and disembarking, and following on-board bus rules. Referrals have gone down by 50 to 70 percent, said Grisham. Bus drivers are happier and less frustrated because they can now focus on the road, which keeps retention levels up. “I’m not a micromanager, but those are three programs that I keep a pretty good pulse on, because I want them to be vibrant
Rick Grisham, Cobb County, Georgia On behalf of IC Bus and Rush Georgia Congratulations on winning the STN Leadership Award
icbus.com IC BUS. DRIVING OUR FUTURE. ™
www.stnonline.com 41 IC
Bus_1117_QS.indd 1 10/12/17 3:02 PM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
