SOUTH CAROLINA
School Bus Safety

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

The South Carolina Department of Education, Office of Transportation, is responsible for training, testing, and licensing all public school bus drivers. Several years ago, most of the state’s school bus drivers were 16, 17, and 18 year-old students. The school bus drivers’ training curriculum, training methodology, training aids and materials were designed to accommodate the learning styles of this age group. After April 1, 1988, the state was mandated to discontinue using teenagers as school bus drivers. Since that time, the entire school bus driving force has been converted to an all-adult driving force; however, the school bus driver’s training course and training methodology have not changed to accommodate the adult learner. Furthermore, the current curriculum does not address issues related to Commercial Driver License (CDL) requirements. The Office of Transportation needs a revised and expanded curriculum that addresses new statutes and issues surrounding today’s bus drivers.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The primary goal of this project was to reduce school bus crashes by five percent by the end of the grant period. The Office of Transportation would develop and implement a comprehensive curriculum and training plan that highlighted defensive driving strategies and commercial vehicle safety techniques for the state’s school bus drivers.

The new curriculum would include: 

• six curriculum modules for 23 hours of classroom instruction;
• review tests for modules; and
• a knowledge test for the training curriculum; this test would help prepare drivers for the certification exam.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The new bus driver-training curriculum required a collaborative effort by the Department of Education’s Office of Transportation, curriculum developers from the Greenville County School District, and local transportation officials. This curriculum was based in part on the subject matter expertise of all of the participants in the consortium.

The Greenville County School District researched and developed a revised school bus driver curriculum. The Department of Education established a Project Advisory Committee, comprised of persons with traffic safety expertise to assist in developing the overall direction of the curriculum. Committee members also made recommendations about the content and design, support materials, and presentation methodology.

RESULTS

The new training brought tremendous results during FY 1999.

• There were 331 traffic collisions involving school buses (54 percent decrease).
• A total of the eight new curriculum modules were developed for classroom instruction (two more than originally planned). One of these modules focuses on air brakes and prepares trainees for the air brakes test on the Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) examination. The second additional module provides a continuation of the module on driving and managing students with special needs. It is only intended for the drivers of special needs buses and provides detailed instruction on transporting, loading, and unloading students with disabilities.
• Eighteen tests are included in a workbook for the trainees. These take-home tests provide practice and reinforcement as trainees learn the materials necessary to pass the tests required for licensing.
• the test items for the curriculum have been developed. The test will need to be validated to assure its reliability and authenticity before it is used to certify drivers.