FIRST TAKE Innovation vs. Regulation WRITTEN BY RYAN GRAY |
RYAN@STNONLINE.COM P
erhaps the greatest testament to the school bus in- dustry—besides the good people it is comprised of—is the fact that its nationally leading safety record in transporting students to and from
school is due in large part to self-regulation and a passion for doing things the right way. By and large, student trans- porters do what they do for the love of child safety. And while it remains a business, the suppliers in the market are heavily involved because they want to make a positive difference on one of the most noble professions. Still, no school district or school bus company wants to be burdened with unfunded mandates, especially those that lead to perceptions about how operations and child safety may be negatively affected. Tat, in turn, causes a reticence to change. Private enterprise is keen to this fact. Suppliers would rather introduce disruptive safety technology through free enterprise than be forced to via government regulation and, as a result, pass along unwanted costs to their customers. Tat said, federal and state standards have also played
a vital role in increasing school bus safety. No one can argue, for example, that school bus construction is worse off since the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis- tration’s 1977 school bus crashworthiness standards. Yet it’s through tireless self-examination, ingenuity, activism and a dedication to excellence that the student transportation industry has ascended to such great heights. Te work is not over, however, and it likely never will be, which I think is a point the National Transportation Safety Board is trying to make with the latest round of industry recommendations from its special investigations into the fatal November 2016 school bus crashes in Baltimore and in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Much of the national media attention focused on the renewed call for a lap-shoulder seat belt requirement from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which former NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart himself said was highly unlikely to happen. Meanwhile, little was written by the media outside of this industry regarding NTSB’s call on NHTSA to require electronic stability controls (ESC) and collision avoidance systems. Blue Bird, IC Bus and Tomas Built Buses already offer ESC, and Te Lion Electric Company said it also
12 School Transportation News • JULY 2018
plans to introduce the technology, despite a NHTSA decision to exempt school buses from its medium- and- heavy-duty commercial vehicle rule three years ago. School buses are also increasingly equipped with driver- assistance technologies—lane departure warnings and automatic braking systems designed to thwart crashes— which are also buoyed by other safety solutions. Tose include external, 360-degree camera systems that are aimed at removing blind spots around the vehicle. Te availability of these solutions will only increase. It comes down to how long it will take before all school buses are so equipped.
Te simple fact is that, although relatively rare in com- parison to the larger motoring public, student fatalities and injuries on the school bus—or around it—continue to happen far too often. School buses continue to be driven by humans, who by nature are flawed and apt to make mistakes, miscalculations and poor decisions. Te fact that these instances are so infrequent, and that
the vehicles are transporting our most precious cargo, are the very reasons they make such sensational headlines. Te most high-profile incidents can evoke an emo- tional response from communities, as well as questions about local school bus operations, which can command government intervention. Nothing elicits page views or public outrage like articles about catastrophic crashes or intoxicated school bus drivers. As a result, local, state and even federal governments
get involved. Sometimes these responses are for sheer political gain, no matter the well-intentioned efforts to influence needed change, even if lacking in direction or details. Unfortunately, they can also cause the industry to feel attacked and to circle the wagons in an effort of self-preservation.
Te tipping point may be coming sooner than we think,
as reader surveys increasingly show more student trans- porters voicing interest in lap-shoulder seat belts, ESC and crash avoidance systems, and as the industry continues to innovate. Read these stories in this month’s issue.
Ryan Gray, Editor-in-Chief
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