STN EXPO hosted a visceral experience to train student transporters in emergency school bus evacuations. A bus loaned by Washoe County Schools was set up in the parking lot of the Peppermill Hotel Resort and filled with fog machines for attendees to traverse as they attempted to “rescue” a predetermined number of dolls standing in for students.

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Images by Nashawn Craig / 0312 Photography.

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Over 200 Ohio school bus drivers gathered in Mansfield for an emergency training course, reported Fox 8.

The emergency training course held June 16 aimed to help school bus drivers to better understand what it is like trying to evacuate a bus filled with students as it is catching fire, or if the bus has rolled over following a crash.

For one of the exercises, drivers reportedly filled into a bus as if they were students and were encouraged to think as if their students were on board the bus. The bus was filled up with fog to mimic smoke from a fire.

Drivers that attended the training told local news reporters that the experience was far more intense than what they might have been taught in their driver training.

“If you are actually in that situation, it is ten times scarier than training, it’s unbelievable,” said Shardae Taylor of Mansfield, who participated as the driver of the bus that was filled with “smoke” and the one tasked with making sure everyone evacuated safely.

For another scenario, the drivers were led into a school bus that was overturned on its side. For the drill, the bus was drained of fluids, including fuel and oil, but drivers could easily see how disorienting it was inside the overturned bus as they worked to evacuate through vents in the roof, window and a back door.

With the help of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, drivers were also instructed in safety procedures, including where law requires them to place placards on the roadway in the event of a breakdown, cutting seatbelts on buses that have them on board and how to properly use flares.

Jim Sullivan of the Ohio Bus Pre-Service program told local news reporters that part of the funding for the training comes from the Department of Education. Training drivers, particularly in how to react in emergency scenarios, can save lives.

On any given school day, there are reportedly more than 700,000 children across Ohio who ride buses to school. Their safety is in the hands of between 15 and 20 thousand drivers.

The news report states that although the 240 drivers in attendance represent only a small percentage of all school bus drivers across the state, the hope is that they will take what they learn and share it with other drivers in their communities.

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