I have been asked a couple of times to become a driver for our district. I have the license required and could pass the D/A test without issue.

I've declined as I do not want the responsibility of transporting children.

I remember turning 25, and receiving a BIG DISCOUNT ON INSURANCE... because I had "learned to drive." Evidently, at 25, insurance companies know there is some big statistical decrease in claims.

As others have mentioned, his age seems young. It would seem that insurance rates for bus drivers would also be predicated on certain age ranges, and that his young age would have been a risk. I am surprised the "fleet discount" would apply to such young applicants since insurance companies already know the risk.

Every bus driver I know (or can remember) has been older... ancient... well... at least 25 (except for the simpson's bus driver dude)

As a parent of a 4.5 year old, this story tears at my heart. Scary stuff.

edit.. never mind. At age 25 I had also received an EVOC (emergency vehicle operating certificate/license)- so technically, I could have driven an ambulance. I declined, specifically, for the responsibility involved, as well as a hostile legal environment for ambulance drivers (being followed by ambulance chasers). There was a lot of training for this privilege. Due to the liability I declined (hmmmm... consistent theme?).

From what I remeber from m a high school debate speech I wrote about 30 years ago, busses didn't mandate seatbelts because the same reasons for implementing seatbelts in cars were considered different for busses. Cars often had dashboards with wood (which could splinter in an accident) or other sharp edges in general. Seatbelts were implemented to minimize the chance we'dimpe ourselves on these pokey spikes. It's.

Busses, though, only had padded setbacks (of the seat in front of you), so belts weren't considered as important/necessary. At least that was the rationale in forming the original regulations.

Also, in the event of a rollover accident where the vehicle stops upside down, a seatbelt in a car will only suspend you a few inches from the ceiling (small distance to fall when you or a rescuer unbelt yourself), whereas a seatbelt will suspend a victim possibly several feet from the ceiling-turned-floor.

RIP to the little ones. :(. Condolences to the families and friends.

A friend of mine was the boss of the project mangers for a bank. As the result of internal politics he got thrown out and ended up being a school bus driver.

He said the kids run riot on the bus and that's fine but one little girl, about eight, started throwing food and it was my friends job to keep the bus clean too so he asked her to stop. She called him all sorts of names, including the C word in a furious outburst. So when she got dropped off and her dad was there to meet her my friend got off the bus and told the father about the whole incident. He said the little girls face went bright red and all the other kids were watching with delight out the windows LOL

There is the possibility the bus and/or driver were contracted out. Contractors may not as strict with their driver requirements or maintenance. I saw a news bit about how school bus drivers around the U.S. have received tickets and never were disciplined or had to pay fines.

When I've asked this question, the answer I've received, is if they equip seat belts, but they aren't used, the bus line/owner becomes liable for not checking and ensuring that passengers used the belts. The legal liability of not having seat belts is lower, than if they had them.

Can't remember my source, not sure of the validity. Pure hearsay.

It appears that is the case in this incident.

Seatbelts are mandatory for school buses in some states, including California and Texas. School buses otherwise meet occupant protection through "compartmentalization" which is the padding and high seats designed to keep people in a small area. Works very well for most accidents but not so much in a roll-over.

As far as the drivers go, there is a nation wide shortage of all commercial drivers including bus drivers. Because of this, they are going deeper into the hiring pool to get ANYBODY to drive a bus who can obtain a CDL, pass a DOT medical, and submit a clean urine test...

Just had a young friend (23) get his CDL to drive a school bus. He did not have a CDL when he applied. They gave him the training and helped him get his license. He starts driving in January. Zero experience driving anything bigger than a pickup truck. He's actually a pretty careful fellow, I think he'll do all right. Just a lot of pressure without a lot of experience...

angela

I have been a driver of mass transit buses and cross country luxury buses. They don't pay enough to get top shelf people as drivers. That is a reason.

Will be interesting to learn what really happened as none of it makes much sense.

Driver was employed by a private contractor, no criminal record and toxicology reports all came back negative. The road he crashed on was not part of his normal route. As to the "kids ready to die" , per police is totally unsubstantiated at this point.

Interesting that several parents had complained about his driving prior to this. Wonder if the company took any action or just ignored them ?? One thing is certain, gonna be a lot of lawsuits come out of this....

Anyone remember when Fred & Barney applied & got part jobs driving school buses? They were hired on the spot, couldn't believe how lucky they were. Then the director takes them to the drivers lounge where all the current bus drivers are ' relaxing'.

As the door slams, the drivers jump off the couch, like they had PTSD..................

I do not currently know the details specific to Chattanooga, but many school districts contract their school transportation to companies in an effort to save money.

Based on my experience with these type of companies in some areas, in order to be the low bidder but still make a profit, they have minimal standards for drivers, minimal training, and pay close to minimum wage.

I have to wonder how guilty the politicians ("...we can't raise taxes") and the school board ("...we can't spend more money") are in this tragic incident. Maybe more of them will realize that saving money on areas that impact student safety has a downside.

Just saw a segment on local news saying that investigators have discovered that this guy had recently taken a job at Amazon Fullfillment Services, so they're looking at the fact that fatigue (they may have said mental fatigue) may have contributed to the accident. I'm guessing they meant sleep deprivation.

I haven't heard any more about toxicology.

Back in the '70s, I was a school bus driver for a while and this was the case in the district where I worked. I was only in my early 20s at the time and was hired on the spot without even a single question being asked...just filled out an application and that was it. Drivers needed to have a physical before actually getting behind the wheel, but it was a total joke. The charter company had a deal with a local "Dr. Feelgood" to just rubber stamp the paperwork. The "physical" consisted of talking sports with the doc for a few minutes before being sent on my way with an OK to be a school bus driver. For "training", I just drove the bus around town for a half hour with a couple of the old timers sitting in the back shooting the chit for the whole time. As long as I didn't hit anything, I was good to go.
Hopefully, that district's requirements are more strict now than they were back then.

There isn't enough money to get me to drive a school bus unless I'm allowed to put kids in this situation (if necessary).

I've seen too many videos on youtube of unruly kids of various ages. These days, many just don't seem to have any respect for anyone or fear of consequences.

http://figuresworld.net/movies_tv/si...annibal_04.jpg

It was pretty much the same 40 years ago when I drove a school bus. I did runs for grammar schools, middle schools and high schools. The middle school kids were, by far, the worst. Climbing around over the seats, constantly grab-assing with each other, and the noise level was usually off the charts. They would throw each others books & lunchboxes out the windows, and one time, I had a kid cut up several seats with a knife! When things got too wild, I'd pull the bus to the curb and tell them we weren't moving 'till they settled down. That usually restored order 'cause they all wanted to get home, but usually not before a few gripes of "You ass'ole" or "Fk you" from way in the back. I'd report the worst of 'em to the school, their bus privileges would be revoked, and then they'd be gone for good.
The grammar school kids were easy...very respectful and well-behaved for the most part. The high school kids, while generally fairly calm, must've thought that the driver was just part of the bus, 'cause they would just talk among themselves like I wasn't even there. Heard lots of juicy gossip about their families, teachers and other students on those runs. And it was always an interesting afternoon when a group of the older HS girls would declare the occasional "No-Bra Day" and jiggle their way down the aisle as they got off the bus.