Hall County school buses travel an estimated 3-4 million miles a year. That’s a lot of opportunity for things to go wrong.
In an effort to keep school children safe on the roadways, the Hall County School Board is experimenting with a new video safety training program entitled SafePUPIL.
SafePUPIL and its implementation was one of the topics of discussion at Monday’s Hall County School Board meeting.
“Anytime you can devote more of (the bus drivers) attention toward reminding them about safety,” said Clay Hobbs, the assistant transportation director for Hall County Schools. “Especially when you’re transporting students to and from school, it’s a good thing.”
There are reportedly 35-40 accidents a year involving Hall County school buses. While that is a relatively small number when one takes into consideration the number of buses Hall County uses and the amount of miles they travel, Hobbs still says that just one accident is too many.
SafePUPIL, a program that features over 400 training videos, will require a short quiz to be taken after each video. The program is not yet a requirement for bus drivers as it is still very new, but the goal of Hobbs and the school board is to make it a mandatory monthly viewing for all Hall County bus drivers.
