New Safety Inspection Manual, Effective January 1, 2009 Posted on the Utah Highway Patrol web page. Copy this link to read the pdf: http://publicsafety.utah.gov/safetyinspections/docs/X2009-2010%20SI%20TTB%20Manual2.pdf

BusBuzz – Davis Drivers and assistants. In order to read the BusBuzz you need to have acrobat reader loaded in your computer. Using internet explorer, go to the Davis web page, click on Departments, click on Transportation, click on employee resources, click on newsletter. JB

Cache bus driver wins top honors in state
Gill Hyer is 2009 Utah School Employees Association’s transportation employee of the year. He was given the award earlier this month. The Lewiston resident also works as a driver trainer. You can read the full story by going to the following web address: http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2009/05/17/news/news03-05-17-09.txt

Took some recertification classes in June and thought I was good for this year but it turns out I was wrong. The new year for bus driver training starts 1 July. I bring this to your attention so you can avoid getting a letter from the shop as I did. See below June 13, 2008, news article. You must complete all of these recertification classes in a five year period. You must complete at least two classes a year plus be up to date with First Aid Operation Lifesaver and Defensive Driving. Any question? Call Lou or Sue in the training office. JB

Davis Drivers! The printed word of the BusBuzz in your mail box is a thing of the pass. In the March 2009 issue some poignant information from Brian and Michelle should and must be taken to heart. From my point of view it was the best that has come from the BusBuzz. Cuts are being made and we drivers need to do a better job of contributing to the effort. Idling has been on the front line lately. Those who have GPS transmitters on your bus should be even more conscience of excessive idling. Those who do not have GPS, do not think you are free and clear. Idling can be computed from the on board computer in your bus. Another area, and I am guilty, is dead miles. Those are extra miles we drivers put on the bus that there is no compensation for. That is to say, transportation does not get money from a school, the district or State. The dollars add up in a hurry. I have the numbers from Utah State Board of Education. They say that the overall cost to operate a school bus over the life time of the bus is about $3.00 per mile. This is the replacement cost of the bus, fuel, maintenance, tires, etc. The point is we all need to do a better job of reducing unnecessary miles. We can do that by doing our walk through at each school, plan ahead for field trips and bring a lunch and not dropping a group off in SLC and take the bus for a shopping trip miles away. We are slowly getting our transportation operating cost so high and approching the point that a contractor like First Student (Laidlaw) can underbid our jobs and we will only have ourselves to blame. We can also save money by slowing down and being more professional in our driving habits. Less crashes in our department equals dollars saved. JB

Did you read the last BusBuzz? Converting that sick leave into 5 days of personal? Sound too good to be true? I did a little research and found out it is. But… there are some rules. You have to be out of personal leave and comp. time. If you are going to run out of personal leave during your vacation, you need to have the paperwork turned in before hand. Apparently the computer will not let you convert until you are out of personal leave before it will accept the five days conversion from your sick leave account. No more then 5 days per year, so plan accordingly. JB

On the dashboard of the new buses is a switch labeled “VGT BRK” which stands for: Variable Geometry Turbo Brake. When this switch is on, the engine will help slow the bus down thus extending the life of the brakes. This switch connects the variable turbocharger; engine RPM, electronic transmission gear shifter and electric foot throttle pedal together through a computer. When you are at speeds higher than second gear, the turbo brake system will take effect when you take your foot off the foot throttle. The transmission will start downshifting automatically based on speed and RPM and the turbo brake will create back pressure in the engine which all works together to slow the bus. One note of Caution: DO NOT USE ON SLICK OR ICY ROADS. If you are one of those drivers who have a hard time keeping a steady foot on the throttle, you may need to adjust your driving technique or turn off the VGT BRK switch. JB

Memo: All Davis sub drivers. The new buses no longer have a sleeping child button to press in the rear of the bus. You must now deactivate the warning system by lifting the rear emergency exit handle and closing it. As always the key must be off and the door closed tight. JB

Recertification – Every Five Years 13 Jun 08

Four hours in any of the follow classes is required yearly plus two hours of behind the wheel training. You must attend all of the classes in a five year period. If you have taken and have documentation of any of these classes in the last four years, you can skip that class for this year (Units 2 – 9).

Unit 1. Introduction N/A

Unit 2. Vehicle Components 1 Hour

Unit 3. Passenger Loading and 1.5 hours
Unloading Procedures

Unit 4. Emergency Procedures 1 hour

Unit 5. Behavior management 2 hours

Unit 6. Defensive Driving Techniques 2 Hours

Unit 7. Activity Field Trips 1 hour

Unit 8. Public Relations .5 hour

Unit 9. Special Education 1.5 hours


Other Training

First Aid/CPR 6 hours

Defensive Driving Course 6 hours

Operation Life Saver 1 hour
JB

The Utah Department of Education has a new Power Point presentation for school bus idling. You can view it by going to:

http://www.schools.utah.gov/finance/transportation/
and clicking in the “Idling Reduction” link. As soon as I can find out what the new instructions are from the UDoE, I will pass it on. JB

Some procedures are not written down like putting your fuel cap back on tight after fueling. So what do your do when you come to an intersection like 4th South and Main Street in Salt Lake City and the signal lights are not working properly and there’s a rail road track (Trax)? There’s no cross bucks. Before taking my turn crossing the intersection, I set me brakes; put the transmission in neutral, open the door and window and have things quite, just as though there were cross bucks. Stop, look and listen. Safety First. JB

Walk Through. How much does it cost the tax payers when we do not do our walk through? I had a discussion with Tango 1 about the overall cost to drive an empty non-fundable bus one mile. The number is a little over $3.00. So you leave the school and you are two miles away and they call on the radio about a backpack. You stop, go back and find it under a seat. It is now a four mile round trip to take it back. That amounts to $12.00 it will cost the tax payers to ship that backpack to the school! Once our operating budget gets so high, it will be more advantageous for the district to contract out our jobs. We need to work together to prevent this from happening. JB