Seat belts on school buses?

[gfretwell]

I had a friend who was a mechanic in the Montgomery County Md school bus yard. These things use a heavy duty truck chassis and then add more metal. You do not want to get hit by one, even in an H1 Hummer. These things weigh from 12-18 tons empty, depending on what size it is. Some places have to use smaller busses just because of the bridges they have to cross. Yeah the vehicle to load weight ratio is ridiculous and they get 6-7 MPG (Diesel). Our district logs a couple million miles a year. There are also lots of rules for the drivers. In Lee County they need an extra validation their license to back up. We got that from the director of transportation when we asked why all the school busses were lapping our neighborhood and never dropped off any kids. They were not allowed to turn around if it required backing up. We are at the end of a dead end road so they just "went around the block", a one mile trip according to the joggers.

[Jim Joyce]

In the winter of 1980, a school bus collided with my '71 Beetle at about

35mph. The bus had a slightly bent front bumper and a scratch in the paint. My bug was totaled.

[Tekkie©]

On Wed, 31 Mar 2021 22:21:48 -0400, [e-mail] posted for all of us to digest...

Yup, a CDL w/ school bus endorsement. You should hear them talk on the radio. Any discrepancy is a call to arms. I was chastised for parking in front of the HS one time. The world was ending... They boxed me in within inches. I wasn't done with my work so they just had to deal with it. Funny though when they needed their computers fixed I was welcomed with open arms. Later one of the drivers pronged the overhang with one. They used to come into the garage stating the door wasn't operating correctly. I was there when this complaint was related to the mechanic. His reply: She must have hit a curb. We went out and looked and nodded. She wouldn't admit to it but the lower body and door hinge was bent about 30deg. The mechanic, after much effort, unscrewed the door hinge and took the door off - used a sledgehammer for the body work and hinge and remounted the door, called it a day. Didn't even have to give it a shot of chrome yellow...

[Tekkie©]

On Wed, 31 Mar 2021 22:55:54 -0500, Jim Joyce posted for all of us to digest...

Collision alert! Prepare to ram! I hope you weren't hurt.

[rbowman]

I had a CDL with tanker, hazmat, double/triples, and so forth and had put on I don't know how many hundred thousand miles all over the country, and I still had to take a road test in a school bus to get the endorsement.

Like they say the only difference between hauling cattle and driving a bus is you can use an electric prod on the cows.

[gfretwell]

It has more to do with the quality of the drivers they can get for that shitty job in spite of a pretty good compensation package. Most school bus drivers don't last that long. The guy who manages them was losing his mind too. I got caught in the middle of a few neighbors really pissed about having buses driving by their house all day and the manager who was listening to people complaining all day. We got along OK because I never really complained and I tried to take the reality back to some asshole neighbors. The manager and I actually became pretty good friends and we talked a lot. I think he just liked one person in his life who wasn't bitching at him all the time. I did learn a lot about the bus system and the drivers.

[Tekkie©]

On Thu, 1 Apr 2021 19:56:57 -0600, rbowman posted for all of us to digest...

HAAAAAAAAAA! The cows are quieter and smell better?

[Tekkie©]

On Thu, 01 Apr 2021 23:44:18 -0400, [e-mail] posted for all of us to digest...

That's true. I still see signs the districts/companies needing drivers.

The managers get all sorts of calls: the bus is late, early, not here, I don't like that stop, etc. It is one of those jobs of serving disgruntled people and disgruntled drivers and disgruntled administration. I always tried to stay on their good side because I heard the cacophony of the office.

The early mechanic had to run around and start all the bus' in the cold weather and work on the ones that didn't until the board finally approved block heaters and associated wiring and infrastructure. Then the drivers would forget to hook them up and complain it wasn't in the contract and then they had to check the bus for trash and sleeping kids and complained that wasn't in the contract, then they had to post a sign in the back to indicate they had checked it and complained it wasn't in the contract... They had hazmat paks for kid puke...

[gfretwell]

School bus drivers are like fast food. Some stay and make a career of it but they are rare. The overall turnover rate is very high. Lots of people "drove a school bus" for a while. I know 3. None lasted more than a school year. One may not count, He was a senior (not a senior citizen, a high school senior). He didn't really have many discipline problems on the bus. A recon Marine Vietnam combat vet does not take a lot of crap. ;-)

[Jim Joyce]

Back when I was in Junior High and High School, all of the bus drivers had been driving for multiple years or even decades. I imagine the smaller rural areas have a lot less turnover than the urban areas, for multiple reasons.

I'm not sure exactly how that works, but kudos to the High School senior who is not only a bus driver but is also a Marine combat vet. He must have been a toddler during his time over there, but even then the math doesn't really work out.

[gfretwell]

Dropped out in his senior year, joined the Marines and went back to school on the GI bill after he got out for a real diploma, not a GED. He was 21-22. (Congressional, a high dollar private school in Virginia across from DC.) I see they stop at 8th grade now. Maybe he killed the High School ;-)

He was certainly a force there.

[Chris K-Man]

_________ From the Bureau of Schittz N Giggulz:

[Clare Snyder]

There were quite a few highschool dropouts ended up in 'Nam who decided to get their GED or actually finish high school on return to civilian life so they didn't have to be a "grunt" for the rest of their lives. Didn't even have to be vets - I knew a few who returned to high school in their 20s - and one of them WAS a school bus driver.

[Jim Joyce]

I don't know anyone who did that so it seemed unlikely to me but I appreciate the info.

[gfretwell]

This guy's family had dreams of him going to college but most colleges don't think much of GEDs. His mom pushed him back into school. It turned out the phone company made him an offer he couldn't refuse and he went to work for them. He was making the same kind of money IBM was paying me with better benefits (union)