Collier County school buses travel 6.2 million miles a year. The 325 buses on 249 routes to 47 schools transport about 20,000 students a day. In Lee County, school buses drive 8.5 million miles a year. The 750 buses on 2,388 routes to 96 traditional schools transport about 50,000 students every school day. John Lambcke, director of transportation for CCPS, says a school bus is the safest way to travel on our local roads. Nationally, less than one percent of traffic fatalities involve children on school transportation vehicles.
“School buses have changed since I rode a school bus 35 years ago,” Lambcke said. “It is the most federally regulated form of transportation. We are carrying our most precious resource. It is safety first.”
Neapolitan Family was taken on a behind the scenes tour of the school bus depot where we saw how bus drivers are trained, how buses are inspected, and what goes into safely moving that many children from home to school and back each day.
The Bus
School buses are designed to be highly visible with the bright yellow color and safety features such as flashing red lights, cross-view mirrors, and stop-sign arms. There are also high crush standards and rollover protection features. These large vehicles are heavier and have less crash forces than cars or light trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires school buses to provide crash protection to passengers through compartmentalization, which means children ride in a cocoon or compartment surrounded by an energy-absorbing protection system. If a child is thrust forward or back they will hit padding instead of a seat frame or hard surface. The steel inner structure absorbs the energy and the high, padded seat backs remain secured to the school bus floor in the event of a collision. This compartmentalization is similar to protecting eggs in a carton.
“They are essentially tanks for children,” said Michael Huff, fleet supervisor for CCPS.
Even though federal legislation does not require seatbelts on buses weighing more than 10,000 pounds, every school bus in Collier and Lee counties has them. Students are encouraged to wear them, though most don’t, and it is not enforced.
“We are required to instruct them to wear seatbelts. We cannot physically force students to put on a seatbelt,” Huff explained.
Buses all have back emergency doors. All Collier and Lee County school buses are air-conditioned. They all have cameras both inside and outside.
In 2022, an estimated 42,795 people died nationwide in motor vehicle traffic crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Just five of those deaths were school bus passengers.
Local Safety
Each school day before sunrise, every bus driver inspects their bus before getting behind the wheel.
“We want to make sure the bus is safe. We have precious cargo,” said Karl Nicolas, a driver and maintenance supervisor for CCPS.
Drivers check everything from mirrors and tires to bolts and nuts. They make sure the lights and stop-sign arms are working, the doors properly open and close, and that safety equipment such as the first aid kit and fire extinguisher are on board. They inspect the steps, the seats, and the windows.
Nicolas walked around a bus at the depot showing all the things on the checklist.
“We make sure there are no cracks and nothing is missing, we make sure the cameras are in working condition, we make sure the rear emergence door latch works from the outside and the inside. We check the reflective tape to make sure it is not torn or missing. We check the under compartment to make sure the hinges are ok and that it is clean. We check the circuit breakers. This is a walk around, and you have to make sure everything is there. Every day they do a proper inspection. It takes less than seven minutes.”
If the drivers find something wrong they call a mechanic who will either quickly fix the problem or order the bus to the maintenance bay and send the driver off to find another bus.
Nicolas stresses to the drivers how important this daily inspection is.
“This is not just a job,” he said. “I have two kids of my own. We want to make sure the bus is safe for the driver and the kids and for the on-the-road users.”
When a driver is hired, they are required to have a minimum of 40 hours of training in a classroom and another 40 on the bus. Nicolas said it can be more since new drivers don’t complete training until they have mastered all the requirements.
“You have to make sure they grasp the information so they don't just pass the test, but that they are the best bus drivers ever,” Nicolas stressed.
Both Collier and Lee county schools have their buses fully inspected and maintained in the bus bays by a state-certified school bus inspector every 30 days.
Things have also become safer for keeping track of students on the bus. In both counties every child either scans their ID badge or types in their student number when entering and leaving the bus. Parents and school officials can track where their students are on the Where’s the Bus app.
“I encourage the parents to go on the district website and download the app so you can have it on your phone,” Lambcke said. “It is a very valuable resource.”
Collier County is now piloting another technological safety program. It is trying out four different systems of cameras that will capture images of vehicles that pass a bus when the stop-sign bus arm is out. CCPS can then submit those videos to law enforcement who will issue traffic violations.
“Student safety has always been important to me,” Lambcke said.
An Inside Look
Inside the bus, students talk, sleep, and scroll on their cell phones. Rick Ramsey has been a Collier County school bus driver for more than 20 years. His route takes students to Aubrey Rogers High School, Veterans Elementary School, and North Naples Middle School. Ramsey says he arrives at the bus depot at 5:55 a.m. His first stop is at 6:17 a.m.
“The easiest is high school,” Ramsey said. “It is early in the morning and they are still fast asleep. They get on the bus and I greet them by name.” He noted that high schoolers are either on their phone or are asleep. “They are so quiet that if I didn't look in the mirror and see heads back there, I would not know they are on the bus. The most challenging group for me is elementary. They are very loud. It is a little more effort with them. Middle school is really good. Some are more challenging than others.”
Under school board policy, discipline on buses is the responsibility of the driver except on field trips where teachers or coaches are responsible. A student who has been disorderly on a school bus may be suspended from transportation services.
When asked how he oversees students and keeps his eyes on the road, Ramsey said it is all about eye movement. “You are fixed on the road. You look in the left mirror, right mirror, and mirror on the top that sees the kids and you keep scanning. In my 20 years no child has ever been hurt on my bus.”
Challenges
Challenges remain for the school bus system in Southwest Florida. Collier County has 245 drivers, but needs five more. Collier County bus drivers earn $22.43 per hour. Lee County has 516 drivers, and needs 64 more.
“Hiring drivers is our biggest transportation challenge,” said Rob Spicker, a spokesman for Lee County Public Schools. “Not being fully staffed causes all the other issues that impact getting students to and from school on time. We recruit all year long, offer incentives, pay for training and are in bargaining to raise starting pay from the current $18.90 an hour, but it is a challenge to recruit and retain enough drivers to staff every route.”
Bus safety
While children are safe inside the bus, they are more at risk when approaching or leaving this school transportation. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers an extensive list of ways to make this journey safer.
When you see a school bus slowing down or stopping, it’s not just the bus that you need to have your eyes on, but the surrounding area too.
Yellow flashing lights indicate the bus is preparing to stop to load or unload children. Slow down and prepare to stop your vehicle.
Red flashing lights and extended stop arms indicate the bus has stopped and children are getting on or off. You must stop your car and wait until the red lights stop flashing, the extended stop-arm is withdrawn, and the bus begins moving, before you can start driving again. In every state, it is illegal to pass a school bus while the stop-arm is extended and red lights are flashing, on both sides of the road, unless there is a raised median that separates the two sides of the road. A turn-lane is not considered a raised area, and all cars on both sides of the road must stop.
Your child should arrive at the bus stop at least five minutes before the bus arrives.
When the school bus arrives, your child should wait until the bus comes to a complete stop, the door opens, and the driver says it’s okay to get on or off.