Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 15, 1995 TAG: 9504170067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
County school officials learned Friday that the sensors have been approved for use in Virginia. At least three school systems - Charlottesville, Newport News and Henrico County - have tested the devices and will use them next year.
No safety devices or other equipment can be installed on school buses without the approval of the state Department of Education.
"If we can find the money, we will put it on as many buses as we can," said Harold Grimes, pupil transportation director for Henrico County schools.
Since January, Henrico County has been testing the system on three buses that transport kindergarten and early primary grade pupils.
The system, manufactured by Delco Electronics, uses sensors on the front bumper and beneath the bus to detect the movement of children around the vehicle.
Grimes said Friday that the system seems reliable and effective, a big improvement over a radar sensor system that was marketed by another company several years ago.
"The concept for the earlier system was good," he said, ``but a leaf, the rain or the wind would set off the alarm, and school systems decided to hold off on it.''
The new sensor system is more accurate and dependable, he said. The sensors trigger an alarm and a light to alert the driver to the movement of a child around the bus.
Jerry Canada, a Roanoke County School Board member, said the new technology is designed to prevent accidents such as the one last month in which Shayla Worley, a Vinton kindergartner, was run over by the rear wheels of a bus.
However, that may not be the case. The sensor system works while a bus is stopped, with its door open and red lights flashing. The sensors are deactivated when the bus doors are closed and the bus pulls away.
Police said Shayla got off the bus and started up the steps to her home, which is about 20 feet from the street. She then turned, ran back toward the bus and fell under its right rear wheels.
Chuck Dabney, a salesman for Delco Electronics, said he would have to know more details about the accident before he could say whether the sensors would have helped. If Shayla had started running toward the bus before the door closed, the sensors would have detected her, he said.
"Hopefully, it is a tool that will help drivers. Nothing is guaranteed 100 percent," Grimes said. "If you had unlimited funds, you would find them on every bus in the country."
Henrico County had been quoted a price of $2,000 to $2,500 for each bus, including installation charges, he said.
The cost has been reduced to $1,195 per bus, Dabney said. Roanoke County has been quoted that price if it buys sensors for 50 or more buses, Canada said.
Charlottesville, which had a fatal school bus accident several years ago, plans to install the sensors on buses that transport kindergartners and other small children.
"They let you know when someone is around the bus," said Jack Ridley, an employee of the Charlottesville transit and school bus system.
Dabney said the motion-sensor technology was developed by Hughes Aircraft for military planes. Hughes and General Motors are doing business as Delco Electronics, which is based in Indiana, he said.
The sensors detect motion for a distance of 18 feet in front of the vehicle and 16 feet on the right side. If coverage is desired for the left side and rear of the bus, Dabney said, two additional sensors are required.
Change comes slowly in the school transportation field, he said, but states are beginning to approve the new technology, which has been on the market for two years. Virginia approved it last August.
Delco Electronics will allow the Roanoke County school system to use sensor units on two buses free for the rest of the school year.
Canada, who suggested the test, said he has confidence in the bus drivers, but the sensor system could help reduce the chance of an accident.
by CNB