Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 15, 1995 TAG: 9505160019
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The drivers have mixed feelings after testing the sensors on their buses for several weeks.
"I don't know how much it will help. It still has a lot of loose ends," said Jerry Hubbard. "The second the bus moves, the system cuts off."
"It is something that might help, but it is still going to take the human element," said Paul Lephew, another driver.
Lephew said the sensor system is something else for drivers to concentrate on as they stop to load and unload children. "It is another thing to occupy the driver's attention," he said.
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.
But they don't detect a child who is walking directly to the bus door from the street curb.
Roanoke County buses are being tested with two sensors: one under the front bumper and a second on the right side beneath the bus between the door and rear wheel.
If a child moves in front of the bus or on the right side next to the rear wheel, the alarm sounds and a warning light comes on.
If coverage is desired for the left and rear of the bus, two additional sensors would be required. But buses usually are equipped with only two sensors.
Hubbard said the alarm needs to be louder so the driver can hear it easily, because now it can be drowned by the noise of the bus and the children.
The county decided to test the sensors after Shayla Worley, a 5-year-old Vinton kindergartner, died when she was run over by the rear wheels of a bus March 27.
The child got off the bus and started up the steps to her home. Then she turned, ran back toward the bus, fell and was run over.
Driver Josiah "Jay" Edwards was not charged in the accident, but he took the rest of the school year off. He plans to return to his job next year.
Robert Woolwine, transportation supervisor for county schools, said the motion sensors probably would not have saved Worley because the system cuts off when the bus door is closed and the wheels move.
"I don't think it would have made any difference," he said. "I don't think it would have helped."
Still, the county is testing the sensors to see if they might help prevent other accidents.
They are being tested on buses driven by Hubbard and Lephew in Southwest Roanoke County. Delco Electronics, the manufacturer, is allowing the county to test the units for free until the end of the school year.
"I want the drivers to see how they work" before the school system decides whether to install them on all buses, Woolwine said. The sensors cost about $1,200 per bus.
Woolwine also will ride the buses and see how the system works.
At least three school systems in Virginia - Charlottesville, Henrico County and Newport News - have tested the devices and will use them next year.
Roanoke will buy two new buses equipped with the sensors and test them next year.
Richard Kelley, the city's assistant superintendent for operations, said the test might be more meaningful with a new bus and sensors instead of an old bus that is retrofitted.
Roanoke will buy only sensor-equipped buses until it determines whether the system is effective, Kelley said.
The motion-sensor technology was developed by Hughes Aircraft for military planes. Hughes and General Motors own Delco Electronics, which has headquarters in Indiana.
Harold Grimes, pupil transportation director for Henrico County, said the sensor system is a big improvement over a radar system that was marketed by another company several years ago.
Since January, Henrico has been testing the system on three buses that transport kindergarten and early primary grade pupils. The test buses in Roanoke County also haul kindergartners and elementary children.
Grimes said Henrico will install the sensors on as many buses as it can afford to during the next year.
by CNB