shoulder belts on buses. “If we’re going to do it, let’s do it. Mandate it and pay for it.”
Post-Crash Training Following the crash test, the Westfield Fire Depart-
on the other hand added that her district’s 15-passen- ger buses as well as its 54- to 66-passenger buses with wheelchair lifts are equipped with lap/shoulder seatbelts, and its. She noted that she has felt for a long time that lap/ shoulder belts are coming [to all school buses], and she expressed hope they will be mandated at the federal level. She noted that a couple of her everyday routes also
have lap/shoulder seatbelts, and the belts have helped cut back on student behavior issues. Rhonda Yates, the transportation director of Kankakee
Valley Schools, added that if she had the funding and support, she would implement lap/shoulder seatbelts on her entire fleet. However, she added that because absent a state law, she won’t receive the approval to do so. “Let’s stop talking about it,” Waites said of putting lap/
ment used the school buses for training exercises. They worked on removing the ATDs from the school bus, and treated them as if they were human occupants, which allowed the firefighters to work on extrication training. Dobbs explained the firefighters trained on securing
the vehicle, working with the jaws of life. On the last day of their three-day training event, the bus was tipped onto its side, so the fire department could practice what needed to be done in a rollover. “We don’t always get to do that,” she said, adding that
firefighters usually see the after-effects of the crash. But attending the event in June let them see the bus crash in real time. “When we can give them the time for training, it’s a win-win,” Dobbs said, adding that IMMI is one of the largest employers in Westfield, Indiana, and it likes to be a good community partner. ●
50 School Transportation News • JULY 2022
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