NATIONAL COALITION OF SCHOOL BUS SAFETY NEWS 2007
Legislation Would Breathe New Life
Into S.C.'s Aging School Bus Fleet
March 11, 2007
CHARLESTON, S.C. | For the second
time in two years, a bill introduced in the Legislature would
require the state Department of Education to create a system to
replace South Carolina's aging school bus fleet.
The buses that transport the state's
public school children are among the oldest - and least safe - in
the country, according to a study by The (Charleston) Post and
Courier.
Most of the buses lack safety
features like antilock brakes and alarms that signal when the bus
backs up, the paper reported. More than 2,000 buses also were
without roof and window exits.
The fleet also was recently ranked as
the most polluting in the country, with many of the buses so old
they fail to meet federal clean air standards.
Even families without school-age
children could find themselves dependent on the state's aging buses.
Emergency management plans call for using the state's school bus
fleet to evacuate coastal residents if there is a hurricane or other
natural disaster.
State Rep. Bob Walker, chairman of
the House Education and Public Works Committee, says money is the
main issue. He said the legislature has been reluctant to commit to
a plan that would lock it into buying new buses every year
regardless of the ability to pay if the state has a tight financial
year.
To that end, Walker, R-Landrum, has
introduced legislation that would required the Department of
Education to replace one-twelfth of the bus fleet each year,
yielding a completely replaced fleet every 12 years.
On average, South Carolina's public
school students are riding in 14-year-old buses, many with more than
400,000 miles. Nationwide, the average school bus is about nine
years old, or five years newer than the average South Carolina bus.
Two state agencies, the Department of
Juvenile Justice and the School for the Deaf and the Blind, have
more modern fleets than the education department, with average buses
10 and 6 years old, respectively.
The last time the state bought a
substantial number of new buses was in 1995. Some of the 2,000 buses
purchased then, now 12 years old, are beginning to require costly
repairs but are still considered "new" by state officials.
More delays could have deadly
results, and if a child is hurt or killed in a bus accident as a
result of its age, people would point fingers at lawmakers, Walker
said.
"Everybody will say you should have
done something," he said.
The Associated Press
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