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Page context: Home > Transport International Magazine > Issue 18 January 2005 > Bus Driver Blues > School Bus Danger
According to the independent consultancy Evoliance:
"The status of schoolbus-driver now means that you are asked to do pretty much anything. Several unions believe this job is the most dangerous in the sector."
Drivers are poorly trained, vehicles are on their last legs, there are few or no safety belts, and children are getting more and more unruly.
Nowadays, instead of just concentrating on driving safely, the driver also has to act as supervisor. All the drivers say the same thing: "Try getting 30 to 40 kids to sit down for half an hour, or even an hour, and also make sure they stay buckled up!"
On the schoolbus route between Sauveterre-de-Guyenne and Targon last year, a 13-year-old kid in the fifth grade refused to sit down. After two admonitions from the driver, instead of sitting down he went back up to the driver and head-butted him.
Drivers are asking to have supervisors ride with them, but the state education system no longer provides safety assistants.
Section home:
Issue 18 January 2005
Other pages for Issue 18 January 2005:
Economics of HIV | Presumed Guilty | Picket Notebook | Cargo in the Wrong Hands | New Pollution Charge | Keeping Going | The Global Reporting Initiative | Commentary: Let them ashore | Commentary: Low cost at any price | Comment: frontlines in US | In a Man's World | Working Life: Our struggles with Maersk | Reflections: Readers thoughts on HIV/AIDS
Other pages for Bus Driver Blues:
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