Rear Wheel Cases

Pretrip and Posttrip: No Excuses

Driver and Attendant Handout – page 1

Pumping Down the Brakes

An 8-year-old Brooklyn girl was killed yesterday afternoon after she was pinned on the sidewalk underneath a runaway school bus. The bus had been left empty and legally parked by the driver while he went to lunch, the police said. Witnesses said they had seen two neighborhood boys enter the bus before it started moving. One of them was taken in for questioning.

The victim, Amber Sadiq, was crossing Nostrand Avenue near Crown Street with her 10-year-old brother at 3:16 p.m. The school bus had been parked north of that intersection but started moving down a slight incline. The bus gathered speed as it moved across the intersection, and it hit Amber about 100 feet from where it had been parked, the police said. The brother was not injured.

"She tried to run but the garbage can was in the way," said Kassandra Polanco, 12, a witness. The bus swerved onto the sidewalk, pinning Amber underneath. A group of 20 to 25 neighbors tried to lift the bus off her, witnesses said. Someone in the crowd was yelling, 'One, two, three,' and it wouldn't move, it was heavy," said Sulanch Lewis. A nearby Con Edison truck with a crane on it was used to lift the bus.

The driver had parked the bus and taken a brown-bag lunch down the block to ABC Realty to eat with a friend. The police said they were not sure whether the front door of the bus had been locked; the back door, an emergency exit, cannot be locked.

New York Times May 23, 2006

What do you think?

1. What human adult characteristics did the school bus driver exhibit?

1. What human child characteristics did the child who released the brake exhibit?

1. What external factors may have led each one of them to do what they did?

1. What might have prevented the event?

Design a mirror grid for you bus yard!

School bus security begins with you – your knowledge and your best judgment. Being able to define and identify security threats and incidents will help you distinguish between a prank and an actual emergency, and enable you to determine your appropriate course of action.

Recommended procedures:

 Keep all vehicle doors, hatches, and compartments locked when vehicle is unattended.

 Conduct pretrip and posttrip inspections.

 Maintain an uncluttered vehicle.

 Look for suspicious items that were abandoned either hidden or in the open.

Surroundings Awareness

Area Observations:

Be aware of unusual circumstances around the bus yard, school, or other destination as you do your inspections:

 Unknown people who are pacing, nervous or jumpy;

 Any vehicle stationary for long periods of time;

 Unusual delivery vehicles; and

 Suspicious or unattended packages, devices, baggage, suitcases.

Vehicle Inspections:

Pre-trip and post-trip inspections that reveal the following may suggest the need for further attention:

 New marks or noticeable force of entry into vehicle;

 Unusual foreign item(s) attached to vehicle; and/or

 Opened or disturbed compartments/cabinets.

The Federal Transportation Security Administration recommends checking the following areas for suspicious packages, devices, substances, etc.:

A. Floors

B. Below seats

C. Driver's area

D. Steps

E. Wheelchair lifts

F. Lights

G. Wheel wells

H. Engine compartments

I. Exhaust system

J. Fuel and air tanks

K. Back/side emergency exit door(s)

Other possible hiding places on a bus might include:

L. Step wells

M. Over windshield storage

N. Reflector box

O. First Aid kit

P. Trash can

Q. Luggage compartments

R. Battery box

To download the entire TSA School Bus Security brochure, go to: gov/assets/pdf/school_bus_security.pdf

Inspection Crossword Solution