Someone had concerns about me parking my motorcycle in front of my bus in a school bus stall. What they did not know was it was part of a joke for Tango 21. She has repeatedly told us over the radio not to park our cars in the bus stalls. My plan was to point out that she only spoke of cars and not motorcycles when she made the next announcement. Next April 1st I plan to park a bus in her car stall, in the bus barn. You can have fun and still be a professional at this job.

I sent the following to the Gov. because I could not find where he signed into law H.B.146:
Thanks for not signing HB 146. It reads as though they wanted school bus drivers to not sit around and be idle.
210 (1) implement an idling reduction program for all school bus drivers in the state; and
211 (2) adopt idling reduction standards in the Utah Standards for Utah School Buses and
212 Operations, 2008 edition.

Utah passes new law to curb school bus idling. See Utah HB 0146S02. It basically directs Utah State Board of Education to implement an idling reduction program. We can start now. Do not start your bus in the afternoons until 6 minutes after the bell rings (exceptions for sp.ed.).

I’ve heard back from U.D.O.T. about the limited sight distance to the South at the 700 S. rail grade crossing in Clearfield. They will be contacting the home owner about a few things and may ask UTA to install a mirror to help us see north bound FrontRunner trains. The area between crossings with Quad gates is called the dilemma zone. Do not stop in this zone. Break through the second gate if need be. I’m working on getting UTA to adjust the amount of time before the second gate comes down. There is a formula based on speed and distance at each quad crossing. 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

New Buses! They are coming this summer. One activity bus, three lift buses and nine regular transit buses. All Bluebird. The word is from Tango One, if we do not re-bid all the routes, they will be issued out like they did two years ago, by seniority. I talked this morning with driver number one and he wants to know if the windows will stay up before he accepts a new bus. Those buses being turned in by the lucky drivers will be reassigned as to the needs of transportation. Good Luck, JB

I revised our old SAFETY ALERT handout so it would fit on the school bus safety pamphlet I am working on. I was concerned that this procedure had gone to the way side. I spoke with Tango 1 about it and it is still alive. The following is my version: Seven minutes after the dismissal bell has rung; regular education bus drivers have been instructed to check their mirrors for approaching students, board them, close the door and depart the school loading zone in a safe and efficient manor. Once the bus driver has closed the door and started moving the bus, bus drivers are advised not to stop to open the door and allow any students to enter the bus. This safety procedure has been implemented to discourage students from chasing the bus. Due to the many elements involved such as multiple buses all leaving at the same time, traffic flow, blind spots and the need for drivers to focus on where they are going, this procedure is intended to diminish the chasing behavior which is a severe safety concern.

To re-bid or not to re-bid? That is the question. It takes allot of time and money to put together the whole bidding process package. On the other hand there will be a few changes in routes next school year. How to be fair and balance it all out is beyond my pay grade. We need a Pulitzer Prize winner to figure this out. Some examples: Some current routes have high school students that are only seniors, going to their old school. Next year that run within the route will be eliminated. In most situations that run added about 30 minutes to the two hours it normally takes to do a Junior High and Elementary. Does management continue to pay those drivers or cut their hours and benefits? We have two elementary schools that are going back to tradition schedule. Will those drivers get a cut in their yearly pay and benefits? Fair and Balanced. Is this a goal we can agree on? Who knows? Bumping, like the railroad does, might be next! JB

Ever visualized running over that orange barrel on the freeway when it jumps out in front of you and swerving was not an option. Well, there is a new thing you need to visualize coming soon, its commuter rail. You may remember during our operation live safer class that the commuter trains may not be blowing their horns at some crossings. Some crossings will be double gated. The railroad people are already installing the uprights for them. What this means is there will be a crossing gate on both sides of the lane of the tracks you would be crossing. Now visualize this. You start to cross the tracks and the bell and cross buck lights turn on. Five seconds later the gate is coming down. Oh, I mean both gate starts coming down. The first one is now bouncing on the top of your bus but the second one is now down in front of you. What will you do? Yep, no stopping on the tracks so you break through it. And that is what you need to visualize. Start visualizing it now and when the time comes you will not hesitate. Just break that sucker and stop somewhere safe on the other side and call it in. Hopefully management will phone it in and have you go on your way and report back to the shop for pictures and paper work after your run. 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

If you are looking for a school bus training video to train children about school bus safety, there is one on line that is outstanding. Copy the following link and check it out.
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/funding/html/student_transport.htm

Click on this link on their web page:
The New Illinois School Bus Safety Program (video)

A few people have asked about a school bus safety guide. Utah has one and if you copy and paste the following link, it will take you it.
http://highwaysafety.utah.gov/educational/newbrochures/bus2.pdf