| Objective:
To develop a coalition or core group of Federal, State and industry partners in
every State to focus attention on the safe transportation of schoolchildren. The
strategy is to obtain the support of State Departments of Education, and to develop
a simplified means of providing the best safety information on each bus company
operating in that State. Optimally, states will establish criteria for selecting
safe bus companies and publish a list of approved carriers from which to choose. At
a minimum, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will provide safety
data on its Web site (www.safersys.org) regarding interstate bus companies. To
develop safety information about bus companies not included on the Federal site,
partnership coalitions will work to develop the most reliable sources of information
in each State, and will communicate these findings as efficiently as possible.
The bottom line is that,
even if only a limited number of carriers are identified in a given State, bus
companies identified, as having poor safety records should not be used to transport
our schoolchildren. Implementing this safety initiative down to the local decision-maker
can take many different routes. For example, the State of North Carolina maintains
a database that identifies approved bus companies available for use throughout
the State. This centralized approach may not be practical for every State.
However, comparable
centralized evaluation processes could be promoted at the county level, the school
district level, or by individual schools. Given
our elevated concern for safety and security in the aftermath of September 11,
this is a small but important step in looking out for the safety of our children.
PDF
Files may be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader
| 
