Mood:  quizzical

This is my reaction to the article below.

Specifically, the bipartisan legislation would require:

• Safety belts and stronger seating systems to ensure occupants stay in their seats in a crash. See below

• Anti-ejection glazing to prevent passengers from being easily thrown outside the motorcoach. Yes, this is great one could even put it on windshields for those who may be crushed by falling rocks. And yes I am totally serious

• Strong, crush-resistant roofs that can withstand rollovers.

• Improved protection against fires by reducing flammability of the motor-coach interior. Some buses have a button you can push by the driver to help put out an engine fire, some even have extiquishers inside the bus above each passenger. Getting people off the bus fast as well as using your senses, smell and sight and listening to the passengers in the back of the bus that say they smell something should be first and foremost.

• Better training for operators in the case of fire.

• Improved commercial driver training. Currently, no training is required by federal regulation. I would hope the bus companies train their drivers. At our company we have monthly training meetings and at times even do cone training

• Strengthened motor-coach vehicle safety inspections including roadside inspections, safety audits, and state and motor carrier programs for identifying vehicle defects.

• Electronic On-Board Recorders with real-time capabilities to track precise vehicle location, and recorded data not accessible to manipulation by a driver or motor carrier. Some buses lines already have these on their buses. They are great in many ways.

From article in Myfox, Atlanta newspaper

Federal highway crash studies show most bus accidents are front and rear-enders and rarely does the bus flip or land upside down.

Britany Bauschka is a member of the North Georgia College and State University women's soccer team and she said, "Right now, we're not having seatbelts and I think we're doing OK without seatbelts."

Bauschka's school has learned some lessons from the Bluffton crash and has implemented some changes.  Now, coaches are required to stay alert and make sure the driver is too. This may be a little helpful but even with this accident--one student said he heard the bus drivers wife yell "you are not on the interstate anymore" and it was already to late. As a driver you pay way more attention to the road than any passenger would at any given time. If you are on the road for 24 hours straight and switch drivers a couple times that coach is going to be very tired and no help to the drivers. We can't expect this much out of our coaches. (let them do their job and the drivers do theirs) It is very unlikely the coach would have said anything in time to keep that bus from going off the road and may even not be alive today if he was awake.

Most of the players on the Bluffton bus were asleep and stretched out across their seats or in the aisle when bus crashed. "Obviously, seat belts wouldn't have helped them," Parra said.

"Every seat in the bus was intact," Betts said. "If you're in the seat, you're intact."  I think this is a key statement. Most passengers that travel long distances (esp. students) do not stay in their seats or if they are in seats they are laying down or across their seats to sleep. Even some Adults do this at night.Some even lay across seats when they travel during the day for an hour or so.

OUR MOTTO IS SAFETY FIRST.

We as drivers need to do everything possible to get our passengers to their destination. We do everything possible, We know we are set to higher standards than others, we have babies on the bus, moms and dads, and even grandparents. I have said this before but think for a minute= have you ever missed a turn because someone in the car asked you a question or cause your baby was crying? How aware are you of oncoming traffic when you are late to work? Have you sat behind a car that is slow getting through the light that just turned greeen? or have you or seen others rush to get infront of other cars when the road goes from 2 lanes to 1 and then get mad when noone lets them or you in? Have you ever popped a hill only to find traffic has stopped and you have to slam on your breaks? Buses and semis can't stop as fast and cars, truck and bus drivers know this but drivers of cars don't think, thus we have to. We have to be aware of everything around us and anticipate other drivers moves. I think anything that will help us and help the passengers feel more safe in our buses should be required. The industry should be held to the same standard as us drivers.