Emergency Crews Train For School Bus Accident
With so many innocent lives at stake, a serious school bus accident is one of the worst things a community can face. Recognizing this, an Illinois School District did something Saturday morning that schools in the Philadelphia area should consider. Stephenson County emergency crews had a school bus accident drill on Saturday.
“I think today has been a fabulous success,” said Dallas Pieper about the school bus accident drill.
Local first responders showed up to the Stephenson County fairgrounds. Robert baker is the assistant director of the Stephenson County Emergency Management Agency, and he said, “It took over 9 months to get it (the school bus accident drill) put together.” Why did it take such an effort to put together the school bus accident drill? In order for the school bus accident drill to be successful, there was coordination between fire departments, law enforcement, and EMS—even the Freeport School District who had student volunteers. The full-scale school bus accident drill was put on by the Stephenson County Emergency Management Agency, and the training included a rolled over bus with kids trapped inside. Baker says this provides emergency crews with experience in a mass casualty school bus accident, along with a hazmat incident.
“They’ve got the experience now to treating multiple students at one time,” said Baker.
Pieper said, “When you talk about a school bus accident, there are so many variables, you never really know how many kids are going to be on it, especially with a field trip.”
Firefighters had to rescue students that were stuck on the bus and the injured children then had to be treated and transported. The exercise even had a helicopter come—just like a real-life school bus accident. The drill also gave firefighters a chance to practice cutting through a school bus. Pieper said, “The buses construction, the way they’re made with the steel rivets, and the reinforcements, it’s not like cutting in to a car where you can find an easy open and like peel it back.” Reports of school bus accidents seem to be at an all-time high this September.
Seven students were injured in a school bus accident that occurred yesterday in Medford, Burlington County. The school bus accident involved not one, but two school busses. The school bus accident occurred around 1:15 p.m. on the 400 block of Stokes Road.
One bus was filled with Absegami High School Marching Band students and chaperones. The bus was stopped at a traffic light when another bus struck it from behind. There were four buses total taking everyone to a competition. Police reported there were 23 people on the bus that was struck and 22 people on the striking bus.
All seven students were taken to area hospitals where they were treated for minor injuries. The driver of the striking bus, Dora Previti, was issued a summons for Careless Driving. Both buses involved suffered moderate damage.
On the night of Sept. 2, the Red Raiders were on their way home from a match against Seymour when their bus was struck by a car. A passenger in the car, Shannon Hall, was killed and the driver, Justin Cyzan, was seriously injured. They were returning from a pre-marriage counseling session with their pastor in Green Bay and were set to be married on Oct. 4.
The car struck the rear of the bus and caused a number of relatively minor injuries to the players. About a dozen of the 22 students on board were taken to the hospital for treatment. After this school bus accident, three players are still waiting to be cleared to return to action.
Although you can see that bus safety drills are important as school bus accidents frequently occur during the school year, it is extremely important safety procedures are in place while participating in these school bus accident safety drills. On Tuesday, a tragic school bus accident occurred during a school bus accident safety drill. An Ohio bus driver died while saving the life of a ten-year-old girl. The school bus accident happened around 8 a.m. at Middlebury Academy, a K-8 charter school in Akron. The bus driver, 51-year-old Laura Zborowski, was conducting bus safety drills with a group of 38 students before classes started. The students successfully completed one drill using the bus’s side door. The students then moved to the back of the bus to practice exiting from the back door of the school bus. But just as Zborowski was helping the last student off of the bus, it started rolling in reverse. According to Fox8, Zborowski threw the child to safety, but there was no time for her to get out of the way. The bus rolled over Zborowski and dragged her halfway down a hill. It finally stopped when it crashed into a tree. Zborowski was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Bus company Petermann, released the following statement regarding the school bus accident:
“We are sad to confirm that one of our bus drivers passed away this morning while assisting in a rear exit evacuation drill… We are working with local authorities and conducting an internal investigation of the incident.”