Taking a Look at School Bus Safety

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Following last week’s deadly school bus crash in New Jersey that involved the bus driver having 14 suspensions and several tickets some school systems may look a little closer when hiring those behind the wheel for students.

Right now, Pike Road Schools uses a company for its search. But once this school year is over, they will take on the hard work of making sure their students are safe on the bus.

It is the one time of the day that a students lives could be on the line if proper precautions are not taken and that is on a school bus.

“You have to have a clear background check before you get hired first and second you have to have a commercial drivers license with a passenger endorsement,” says Dr. Chuck Ledbetter, Superintendent of Pike Road Schools.

For Hudy Muldrow Sr., a New Jersey bus driver, everything appeared to be valid, with the exception of several speeding tickets and  license suspensions and now one student and one teacher are victims after the driver collided with a dump truck.

“One of the things that we try to do is make sure that those kinds of things don’t happen,” says Ledbetter.

Ledbetter says school buses are one of the safest vehicles on the road but at the end of the day,it all depends on the driver of the bus.

“They’re reinforced every eight to sixteen inches with steel rods. They’re the safest way for students to move around from place to place. But it’s also critical of that the driver operates them in the proper way,” says Ledbetter.

Ledbetter says, as Pike Road begins the process of hiring drivers soon, there are are certain things that drivers must understand.

“Don’t say well I have to hurry up and get them to school because I’m running behind. You call the school. You know-you do the things you have to do to let us know that we need to change my route because there is a problem getting here on time,” says Ledbetter.

It’s those simple steps, that could prevent a tragedy.

“There’s no excuse for unsafe driving,” says Ledbetter.

In Alabama, bus driver certificates expire each year on December 31st. The law requires those drivers to keep certification by attending a 4 hour class or attend 3 days of a new driver class and take and pass a written test.