RENO, Nev. — STN EXPO West kicked off with school transportation experts Richard Fischer and Peter Baxter, who presented the “School Bus Accident Investigation: Be Prepared for a Lawsuit” session.

“You need to know more than you need to know,” said Peter Baxter Friday as the four-hour-long accident investigation session began. With the play on the famous Oscar Wilde quote, Baxter aimed to emphasize the need for transportation professionals to acquire more knowledge than they believe they will need to know in the industry.

Attendees at the session were taught about the importance of safety and preparedness within the student transportation sector, particularly as it pertains to handling incidents involving school buses. Both Fischer and Baxter said their goal was to equip attendees with essential skills in mitigating risks associated with school transportation.

Dick Fischer is widely recognized as the Father of School Bus Safety Week for successfully petitioning President Richard Nixon in 1972 for the first federal proclamation. He and Pete Baxter, a retired state director of student transportation for the Indiana Department of Education are both members of the National Association for Pupil Transportation Hall of Fame. Baxter is one of only two people to serve as president of both NAPT and the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services.

Fischer, who was recognized at the 2024 STN EXPO West with a lifetime achievement award, noted that the main priority of transportation professionals should be the students they transport. He emphasized the acronym “GOAL,” short for get out and look, when addressing how drivers should not be reluctant to exit the bus when they can’t see if a student crossed or to do a  maintenance check on the bus if needed during a route.

Fischer explained that many student transportation professionals believe that it is illegal for school bus drivers to exit the vehicle while on route. However, that is not the case. Currently, California is the only state where drivers must get off the bus to cross the road with elementary students when the bus is stopped on the opposite side of where the student’s home is located. This law was established in 1932, and since then reportedly no student or driver has been killed by an illegal passing incident.

During the seminar, Fischer transitioned into the topic of the danger zone, which refers to the 10- to 12-feet hazardous area surrounding school buses where students are at the most risk during loading and unloading. He highlighted the importance of being able to look over the hood of the bus when driving.

A scenario was acted out, where two attendees with different heights represented the difference between a shorter and taller school bus driver and how their respective danger zones are different. Fischer explained the importance of setting the driver’s seat at its lowest point to get an accurate description of the true danger zone for each driver. The ability to maintain awareness of one’s surroundings is pivotal in preventing incidents and ensuring student safety.

When the question, “What do you think the toughest task is in preventing a collision?” was asked by the speakers, many attendees were quick to respond. Some of them agreed that the toughest task is predicting the other behavior of other motorists on the road.

Fischer recommended that school bus drivers conduct department safety meetings. He suggested for directors of transportation and/or safety trainers to assign a month to drivers for organizing safety meetings while sharing ideas with them on what they could discuss during these meetings.

He also pointed out that school districts with school buses equipped with cameras should look at the recorded videos on a daily basis to prevent school bus related incidents from continuously occuring. Safe behaviors that are rewarded will be repeated but wrong behavior that is not called out or reported will be repeated as well. This is why both Fischer and Baxter emphasized the importance of reporting any unprofessional behavior instead of looking the other way. They referred to this as “CYA” or covering your “Adam’s apple.” In other words, the advised taking appropriate measures to protect oneself from potential blame, legally or otherwise.

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When Kara Sands took a job as a school bus driver at the age of 21, she wasn’t sure how she would like working with children. Today, she’s on a mission to further safety and prevent school bus accidents.

Sands, transportation lead trainer and driver at Hanover Community Schools Corporation in Indiana, was selected to receive the inaugural “Dick Fischer School Bus Safety Scholarship,” a continuing education scholarship named for industry veteran Richard “Dick” Fischer, who successfully petitioned President Richard Nixon in 1972 to create the first federal recognition of National School Bus Safety Week. The scholarship provides one safety-oriented student transportation professional the opportunity to attend the STN EXPO West conference in Reno, Nevada.

Sands said her introduction to the world of student transportation began with a surprise pregnancy discovered on her 21st birthday while she was in college. She explained that the bus company she applied to in Illinois offered child-care and paid well, which led to her first job driving a school bus. She discovered that she loved working with the students.

“Kids became everything to me,” said Sands. “Just seeing the smiles on their face and knowing that I could teach them something that they might keep with them for the rest of their lives. That’s my favorite part about driving.”

Sands continued that as her career progressed as a driver, she always wanted to further higher education. In between supporting her husband through various health conditions, she tries to further her career and education.

Despite any setbacks she encounters in life, Sands said her mantra remains the same. “Whatever I try to do, I always try to make sure I do it 100 percent. I try to make the best out of whatever I have,” she shared.

When speaking about her passion for school bus safety, Sands said that she has seen a lot of “close calls.” She shared that a pivotal moment for her was when her daughter’s best friend died in a car crash three years ago. She explained that her drive to train for increased safety “was kind of like a tribute to her, in a way. I looked at the whole accident scene and tried to see what the problems were, what happened, how could this have been prevented. It made me train totally different,” she recalled.

“I ended up putting a face with every story, every lesson,” she said.

Sands continuously works to get the message to as many people as possible to prepare for the worst-case scenario. She continued that awareness has always been a hurdle as she tries to convey to school bus drivers how important their job is and that it’s never “just a job.”

In between her time at her first school bus driver job and starting at Hanover in 2017, Sands said she has driven students pretty much everywhere from Chicago to Indiana in a myriad of environments. She shared that there are unique challenges that come from driving in a cityscape to being on roads made of gravel and sand that could sink under you.

Sands said a resource she has relied on for about six years is Fischer’s email newsletter sent daily throughout the school year to provide news and commentary on safety issues affecting student transportation. She added she appreciated Fischer’s meticulous record keeping and started attending local conferences where she was taught his training. She explained that she hadn’t been interested in some of the more recent conference options, so she emailed Fischer to inquire about potential opportunities. He pointed her to the STN EXPO website, where she discovered the scholarship opportunity and said the education offered was “right up her alley.”

She continued that she has filled every available window of time for her time STN EXPO West, saying she wants to learn “anything and everything” she can. She said she’s looking to share resources and ideas as well as discuss challenging training situations, such as getting through to someone who might have a personality that is hesitant to accept instruction.

“I try to keep an open mind. I try to take it all in, you know, whether someone has got more experience at something than me or not. There’s always something I learn new every day. But sometimes people just don’t see that way…For me that is something I would like to discuss with [other] trainers,” she explained.

In her application for the scholarship, Sands stated that she was specifically looking forward to the “School Bus Accident Investigation: Be Prepared for a Lawsuit” presentation on Friday, July 11 taught by Fischer and Pete Baxter, a former president of both the National Association for Pupil Transportation and National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services as well as an NAPT Hall of Fame inductee. While she said she’s been very fortunate that she has not personally had to handle a school bus crash, she understands that there is a lot to learn in that realm of preparedness. She also noted that she’s interested in seeing different technology and hardware options, such as new stop-arms and equipment for buses used on special needs routes, which will be on display at the Trade Show in Reno.

Sands shared that she would like to see herself step into a safety consultant role like Fischer’s one day. She recalled attending one of Fischer’s classes early on in her career. She laughed remembering that she was 30 seconds late for the class and that Fischer “really let me have it.” But after the class, she called him, and he spent 45 minutes on the phone with her answering her questions.

“Nobody does that. I don’t know anybody that does that.” she said. “I’ll never forget that.”

Registration remains open on-site for the STN EXPO West conference in Reno, Nevada at the Peppermill Resort. Find the conference agenda, speaker information, trade show vendor lists at stnexpo.com/west.

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School buses remain the safest way for students to get to school, but student transportation professionals must be prepared for the worst-case scenario when a school bus related accident occurs.

At STN EXPO West, safety will be the focus of many of the educational sessions and trainings. The conference kicks off Friday, July 12 with an in-depth “School Bus Accident Investigation: Be Prepared for a Lawsuit” presentation by industry veterans Richard “Dick” Fischer and Pete Baxter. The four-hour session will dive into the intricacies of accident investigation that often branch off beyond the incident itself to a broader view of transportation operations, including safety onboard the bus, at bus stops and in the school bus garage.

Fischer, a renowned national school bus safety expert and trainer, and Baxter, an NAPT Hall of Famer and retired director of pupil transportation for the Indiana Department of Education, will also discuss the legal process that follows a school bus accident and review real-life examples to demonstrate the importance of preparing transportation teams to handle the legal proceedings. Both Fischer and Baxter have served as expert witnesses in court for legal cases involving school bus collisions and look to shed light on the process, starting with the first phone call about an accident to appearing in court. Even though every transportation department or company hopes it will never happen to them, this session will reveal the need to prepare for different types of incidents.

Save $100 on regular conference registration with Early Bird registration by June 6. STN EXPO West will be held July 11-16 in Reno, Nevada at the Peppermill Resort. Find registration and hotel details and stay tuned for updates on the conference agenda, exhibitor lists & unique experiences at stnexpo.com/west.

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