Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 21, 1995 TAG: 9504210098
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Josiah "Jay" Edwards says he was willing to return to his job as a Roanoke County bus driver this year after the recent fatal accident that killed a Vinton kindergartner.
But county school officials did not want him to come back until the next school year, he said
"They made the suggestion and I agreed with it," said Edwards, a bus driver for four years and minister of New Testament Baptist Church.
Robert Woolwine, transportation supervisor for county schools, said last week that Edwards indicated he was not ready to drive his bus again. He said Edwards wanted to take the rest of the year off because he still was emotionally upset over the death of 5-year-old Shayla Worley.
But Edwards said Thursday that he did not make such a request when he met with Woolwine after the investigation of the accident was finished.
"I wasn't willing to come back at that moment," he said. "I probably needed another two weeks off, but I was willing to come back this year."
Woolwine still insists, however, that Edwards made the decision not to come back until next year. He said the county had no problem with the driver's staying off the rest of the year.
If the school system had not wanted Edwards back as a driver, Woolwine said, it would not have assured him that he would have a job next year.
Edwards said some bus drivers are upset that county school officials have given the impression that he did not want to come back this year.
Edwards said he is better emotionally, but he probably would have been better off to have gone back to driving this year.
"It was a terrible thing, and I can understand why they might have thought it was better for me not to come back this year," he said.
Edwards said the first 10 days after the accident were the roughest for him. "How do you explain that you ran over a 5-year-old child?" he asked.
He said it was tougher emotionally than the death of his daughter in a car accident several years ago.
Edwards was not charged in the March 27 accident, in which the student was run over by the rear wheels of the bus in front of the Worleys' house at 467 Vale Ave. Vinton police said there was no evidence that Edwards was at fault.
Witnesses said the child got off the bus and started up the steps to her home, which is about 20 feet from the street. She then turned and ran back toward the bus.
Edwards said he never knew that the girl was running back to the bus because he was looking forward.
"Once she went toward her house, that was it. I did not know she came back," he said. "I believe she slipped down the embankment when she ran back."
Edwards said he hopes the accident will make parents more aware of the dangers for small children in getting off buses.
"If a mother is at home, I hope she will look out for her children as they get off the bus," he said.
Meanwhile, Woolwine said he doubts that the motion sensors that are to be tested on two county buses would have prevented the girl's death.
The sensors, manufactured by Delco Electronics, operate only when a bus is sitting still with its door open and red lights blinking. When the doors are closed and the lights are turned off, the sensors stop.
"In this case, they probably would not have helped," said Woolwine, because the girl ran toward the bus as it was pulling away.
Chuck Dabney, a salesman for Delco, said the sensors might have detected the girl if she had started running toward the bus before the doors closed.
The sensors trigger an alarm and a light to alert the driver to the movement of a child around the bus, particularly in areas where the driver's vision is blocked.
Although the sensors might not have prevented the Vinton accident, Woolwine said, the school system will do the tests as soon as Delco Electronics provides them. The company says it might be two or three weeks before they have them in stock, he said.
Delco Electronics has offered to allow the county to use sensors for two buses free until the end of the school year. The sensors cost $1,195 per bus.
Woolwine said the radar-equipped sensors pose no radiation danger. School Board member Thomas Leggette said the county should make certain that they create no health hazard.
Three school systems in Virginia - Charlottesville, Newport News and Henrico County - have tested the devices and will use them next year.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB