According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over 25 million students are in school with an average of 500,000 school buses on the roads. While school buses are statistically one of the safest modes of transportation, more than twice as many children are killed while getting on or off school buses than while riding in them. Preventable School Bus Accident

A 12-year-old girl was hit by a school bus in a South New Jersey middle school parking lot. She was walking across the parking lot which had no designated lines for pedestrian paths and no cross walks. She was run over by the rear tire of a school bus as it came around a loop. She suffered multiple fractures and serious internal injuries.

The bus driver was not faulted. The girl was walking between two cars.

At fault was the school district for failing to provide a parking lot with visibly designated markings; failing to provide appropriate cross walks; and failing to provide a school safety plan for bus arrivals and departures.

“This case, on first blush, appeared to be one of a careless child darting out between parked cars and running into the side of a bus, causing her own injuries”, states Larry Cohan, counsel for the victim.

“After careful analysis, and expert review, it became apparent that this child was a victim of bad planning and bad design by her school. Had there been proper crosswalks, a safety plan and supervision, this child would not have even been crossing where she was, and the incident would not have occurred. The irresponsible school officials, who created this danger, were clearly negligent, and the school was required to pay for their failures.”

The girl received a substantial settlement. Through extensive medical care and physical therapy, she is recovering.

School budget and school districts in many states are frequently in dire straits and are forced to make choices in how their limited funds are expended. Somehow the important issue of school bus safety goes to the back of the bus and doesn’t get addressed.

School Bus Safety Problems

In 2002, 26 children were killed as pedestrians getting on or off a school bus, or while waiting at the school bus stop. Other motorists illegally passing a stopped school bus remain a problem in every community and the school bus industry urges stricter police and judicial enforcement against violators.

School buses always are operated by drivers with a Commercial Drivers License (CDL), required by the U.S. Department of Transportation, and who have received special school bus driver training required by states. In addition, no one can drive a school bus without first passing drug and alcohol screening and required law enforcement background checks.

There is no safer way to transport a child than in a school bus. Fatal crashes involving school bus occupants are rare events, even though school buses drive a remarkable 8.8 billion students to and from school annually. Every school day, some 500,000 yellow school buses transport more than 25 million children to and from schools mostly without a serious incident.

The Volkswagen Type 2 or Transporter (or more popularly known as the “Bus”) is generally considered to be the ancestor of the passenger and cargo van. Taking after the VW Beetle (“Type 1”), the Bus was introduced in 1950. It sparked a wave of imitators like the Ford Econoline, the Dodge A100 and the Chevrolet Corvan, which even sported some utilities similar to VW bus parts like its rear-mounted engine.

The Bus’ basic idea is generally credited to a Dutch VW importer, Ben Pon, who in 1947 began drawing a series of designs for the van. The first design was not aerodynamic enough, but was soon improved on the wind-tunnels of Technical University of Braunschweig. Three years later, the more aerodynamic van began to roll out of VW’s Wolfsburg production plant.

The Type 2 soon assumed many variations of the basic VW bus parts configuration. Among them were: Delivery van without side windows or rear seats (Panel Van); Delivery van with raised roof (High Roof Panel Van), or Hochdach; Van with side windows and removable rear seats (Kombi, from German Kombinationskraftwagen (combination vehicle), i.e. both a passenger and a cargo vehicle combined); Van with more comfortable interior reminiscent of passenger cars (Bus; also called Caravelle since the third generation); Van with skylight windows and cloth sunroof (Samba-Bus, first generation only; also called Deluxe Microbus); Flatbed truck (Pick-up), or Single Cab, also available with wider load bed; Flatbed truck, Double Cab, with two rows of seats (Crew Cab Pick-up); Camping van (Westy; with Westfalia roof and interior); and semi-camping van that can also still be used as a passenger car and transporter, sacrificing some camping comforts (Multivan, or Weekender, available from the third generation on).

During the hippie movement in the United States during the late 60s and early 70s, the Bus became a widely known symbol of the movement. Many of the counterculture sported a Bus as a means of not just transportation but expression as well, with some taking many VW bus parts to new design heights.

Those with artistic bents turned the Bus into their own canvas, taking off from the traditional factory paint jobs. Soon, Busses were seen in multi-faceted colors, from the surreal to the psychedelic. Anti-war activists even replaced the VW logo in the front with a painted peace sign.

From its utilitarian beginnings to its hippie generation and its present incarnation as the VW Eurovan, the Bus has proven its longevity.

You know what they say: All work and no play can definitely make anyone dull. And a bus charter gives you all the reasons to go out and play in the sun. Indeed, a bus charter can basically take you at any point all over the United Kingdom, whether you want to enjoy the hot springs of Bath, or simply be amased and bewildered by the Stonehenge.

Why Picking a Bus Charter Is Highly Ideal

If you’re in doubt while a bus charter makes an excellent ride, here are 6 of the best reasons:

1. The bus is the safest mode of transportation. According to research, there are more people who get killed while riding their own automobile than when they’re on board a bus. After all, transportations used in a bus rental are a lot stronger and much bigger. Drivers don’t have an option to go full speed until he couldn’t control his brake. If you’re thinking of protection for your families and friends, then a bus charter is the most perfect pick.

2. You can save on gas when you are going to ride a bus. Despite its gigantic size, a bus surprisingly uses a small amount of gas. Thus, it becomes fuel-efficient. This is, as a matter of fact, more efficient than any other kind of transportation, including automobiles.

3. It’s available anytime. Whether you’re planning to travel at unholy hours or early in the morning or late at night, you can guarantee that a bus charter will be on its way. What’s more, bus rental companies may have traveling partners located in other parts of the world, which can also provide you with the same kind of service should you plan to go there.

4. A bus delivers you where you exactly want to go. An airplane can get you to the airport, whilst the train will eventually have to drop you off at the train station. The bus, meanwhile, can take you wherever you want to go—no excuses and no questions asked. You don’t only get to save your energy, but you can safely arrive to and from your points of destinations.

5. Bus rentals are cheap. With the rising costs of fuel, airplane and boat rides have become a lot more expensive. It’s the same thing if you’re going to travel by car alone. With bus rentals, you only have to pay for the services, the fee normally covering the cost of the fuel used as well as the salary of the driver.

6. It’s less hassle for you. All you need to do is to call a bus charter company, and they’ll be the one to arrange the rest for you. This way, you can spend your remaining time and money for other important things, such as for accommodation and food.

When it comes to bus charter options, IMG Coach is the most appropriate choice. It has already a wide range of experience, providing buses to various companies, both big and small, all over the United Kingdom. Its bus charter services can guarantee you a safe, peaceful, hassle-free, and cost-effective mode of transporting the entire team to your favorite destination.

With fuel prices rising, road tax on the increase and the astronomical cost of living continually emptying the nation’s transport funds – why aren’t people using public transport more? Convenience, cost and efficiency are just three of the reasons that so many people opt to stay in their cars, when they should be the reasons to jump on the train or bus.
For the most convenient form of transport, most people will say that driving alone in your own car cannot be beaten. However, there will be times when this is not the case and public transport will be more suitable. Living in London means that the tube can often be the best way to get from A to B and in the quickest possible time.
For those living outside of the big cities and even larger towns the case is more often than not that public transport isn’t frequent enough and costs too much. Depending entirely on where you live and where you need to go to, it can rarely be argued that public transport is the better option. A forty minute drive to work for me costs twice as much and takes three times as long on the train. So why would I ever consider not driving for this journey?
Convenience is regularly the first thing that commuters will look for when deciding which mode of transport to use. With this in mind, it would seem that there needs to be a major shake-up before people in more rural areas opt to jump on a bus or train rather than drive themselves to work and back.
The cost of petrol (and diesel), road tax and car maintenance continues to rise as the credit crunch is felt across the country. As the nation begins tightening its belts a little further, cost of commuting to work will play an even more important role in choice of transport method.
Driving into London can be expensive, with congestion charges and road tax added to the already hefty fuel costs and car insurance. Commuting to London by train seems to be the sensible option with the tube offering a pretty good service for getting around central London quickly and easily. But this cannot be said for so many other towns around the UK where bus and services are often infrequent and require multiple changes.
So, for those of us that don’t work in London and will not consider car insurance as part of the cost of getting from A to B, is the cost of driving really as expensive as we are told? Fuel prices have shot up dramatically in the last year, rising by about 30 per cent all over the country. Even then, I am still saving a substantial amount of money every week by driving to work despite the protestations of the government who keep trying to persuade us to opt for public transport.
I drive alternate weeks with a work colleague and we halve our fuel consumption as well as sneaking forty winks when it’s own turn to be the passenger. Car share schemes seem to be popular amongst drivers for these reasons, as they still offer convenience, value and for those green-thinkers among us is a little better for the environment.
If you drive to work then this is a fantastic option for driving down fuel costs, while doing a little bit for the environment. Another choice for drivers is to avoid busy town centre traffic and the problems of parking by jumping on the park-and-ride service that is sometimes provided. By parking just outside of the town centre, you can pay a small fee and park for the whole day with only the small inconvenience of a short bus ride. A fantastic choice if a parking space is both costly and a rare commodity.
As a regular driver I find travelling by train or bus to be both inconvenient and a little too expensive to tempt me to hang up my keys. But with the cost of fuel rising every week I have been tempted to at least consider the possibility of not driving so often, as well as driving with more efficient fuel consumption in mind.
If fuel prices continue to rise as expected, public transport may become a more viable option as cost plays a bigger role than convenience or efficiency. So, if the nation decides to ‘go public’, will the public transport system be ready for the increase in popularity? Judging by the numbers of standing passengers commuting to London, it would appear to be very doubtful at best.