Board may allow school bus drivers to increase speed

Thursday, July 25, 2002 | 11 a.m.

Just about everyone has seen it -- irate motorists swerving in order to get around a poky yellow school bus on the highway.

Now Nevada education officials are saying it would be safer to let school bus drivers speed up.

The Nevada State Board of Education is considering allowing school buses carrying children on highways to go at the speed limit of 65 miles per hour, 10 mph faster than the top speed currently allowed. The school bus speed statutes were last revised in 1977, when the maximum highway speed in Nevada was 55 miles per hour.

School bus drivers would still have to obey posted speed limits on surface streets and in construction zones. The Board of Education will consider the speed limit change when it meets today and Friday in Carson City.

Other proposed changes include banning 15-passenger vans for student transportation, based on the high number of accidents involving the vehicles nationwide. Nevada bus drivers would also have to double the amount of time they spent in classroom and on-road training, from 10 to 20 hours for each section of the certification.

Clark County School District drivers already receive at least 40 hours of training in student management, driving skills and first aid before being certified, said Richard Ennis, business manager for the district's operations unit. The district also banned the 15-passenger vans several years ago, Ennis said.

"We're already exceeding the state's requirements," Ennis said. "Safety has always been the top priority for our drivers."

Clark County school buses were involved in 385 accidents during the 2001-2002 school year -- included were a rear-view mirror being knocked off by a passing truck and a bus being hit by a drunk driver at an intersection. The majority of the incidents were minor, and in only one instance did a student or bus driver require treatment, Ennis said.

The proposed changes won praise from some of the district's bus drivers Wednesday.

After seven years behind the wheel of a Clark County school bus, Dino Hunter said he is used to the dirty looks and honking horns he routinely encounters during his daily route. He's had motorists cut him off at exits, swerve suddenly in front of him and even weave in and out of lanes in an attempt to pass the bright yellow behemoth.

"People don't realize it takes six seconds longer to stop a bus than a regular car," Hunter said as he waited for his afternoon passengers outside Lamping Elementary School in Henderson. "There are a lot of crazy drivers in this town, you have to be extra alert, extra careful."

Hunter said he would prefer to be allowed to keep pace with the flow of traffic, instead of traveling at least 10 miles per hour slower than nearly every other vehicle.

"No one goes 65 in this town, they go 70, 75 even 80," Hunter said. "Going too slow can be as bad as going too fast."

Tony Dyer, a Clark County School District driver for more than two years, said he was in favor of increasing the allowed speed limit, provided additional training was required. Dyer said driving a school bus is more difficult -- and more stressful -- than his prior job with Citizens Area Transit.

"The kids are always so excited and emotional, you have to pay attention and keep them in line," Dyer said. "You have to do much more than just drive the bus."

Children are at greater risk traveling to and from school in a private car than on board a bus, according to study by the National Research Council of the Transportation Research Board.

Each year, about 800 children are killed in motor vehicle crashes during the normal school travel hours, according to the study released last month. Of those deaths, only 2 percent are school bus-related, while 74 percent occur in private passenger vehicles, the study found.

Cherie Orens, whose son, Zachary, is a first grader at Lamping, said Wednesday the existing speed limit for school buses is "fast enough."

"There are no seat belts on buses for kids the way there are in cars," Orens said. "I'm always glad when I see a school bus going slowly,it reminds people to be extra careful."

Autopia Barnes, a school bus driver for three years, said she would rather see the speed limit lowered, rather than raised.

"These are babies we're driving around, that's a big responsibility," Barnes said. "I know there are people out there who don't like it when we go slow, but it's for the safety of the kids. I think those other drivers should just learn to be more patient."