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difference for them. Tey will have to learn it for the road test, even if they don’t go under the hood afterward.” Indiana’s Hower said drivers who
struggle with the mechanicals should not be rejected. “Maybe their strengths are they are safety conscious; good drivers instinctively know how to handle students
well,” she said, adding that it only hurts district retention efforts. “Tis additional mechanical training they will be required to have doesn’t mean they will be a safer driver or a better driver. Tose two things don’t necessarily go together.” John Gibbons, transportation director for the Carthage Central School District
in New York said he has had good drivers fail the mechanical portion of the test. One did not know the thickness of a brake shoe, while another did not know an alternator’s compo- nents, even though she correctly identified the alternator and accurately described its purpose. “Te mechanical knowledge (the tests)
require will never be used by a driver,” Gibbons said. “My drivers do not need to repair a bus on the side of the road. I don’t know why some of this stuff is in there.”
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FMCSA AUDITS: INSTRUCTIVE OR PUNITIVE?
Still another concern driving the calls for
more information are the compliance audits by the FMCSA. What will happen, for ex- ample, when a school district is found to be noncompliant—and what triggers an audit? LaRocco said the process will be a learning experience for the feds, as well as school dis- tricts. “If the audits are for guidance it will be better for everyone,” he said. “Initially, that is what it should be.” Te FMCSA avoided providing specifics, once again, because it wanted to give districts flexibility. “I don’t have a problem with that, as long as they take it into consideration during the audit,” he added. “I’d like to know what they will look for during an audit.” LaRocco said audits would likely be per-
formed at random, but could be triggered by a high level of complaints, or the fail rate of a district. “Tis could be a way of collecting data, so they can evaluate the whole CDL system and make the roads safer,” he said. Hood said compliance enforcement will
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be developed later, and could differ by state, because of the various levels of educational support. “Te reality is the resources are not there to do a lot of auditing,” he said. He recommended that representatives from the FMCSA, states and professional associations need to come together and offer a series of informational webinars for all of the parties that are involved. “We need to talk about this thing and we need to deploy it more locally,” he added. “People are understandably reluctant, because they don’t know how it is going to come down. But barring any unforeseen circumstances, it will come down. Te rule is pretty much set in stone. Congress drives the bus when it comes to telling federal agencies where they need to go with the regulations.”
22 School Transportation News • JUNE 2018
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