Who is driving the bus?

An I-Team investigation of school bus drivers in the Miami Valley is digging into their track record on the road. In Dayton, drivers have been involved in at least 42 accidents so far this school year. Dr. Shelia Burton, Associate Superintendent, Operations, Maintenance and Student Services, Dayton Public Schools, said overall they have a good record on the road.

"Many of those accidents were not caused by the neglect of the drivers but by other vehicles hitting the bus," Burton said.

That was the case early this month when a Dayton bus was struck by the driver of an SUV who ran a stop sign and pushed the bus onto its side. The bus driver and several students were shaken up but not seriously injured. Since then the driver has not returned to work.

Who's driving the bus stats Who's driving the bus stats

A review of district incident reports from the last five years, however, showed the vast majority of accidents involved the buses crashing into cars, trucks or other objects, including poles, signs and fire hydrants. The district has also had to contend with excessive personal use of buses by drivers in off-hours.

An internal audit found far too many drivers taking their buses home or running errands in violation of district policy. In an effort to better manage the drivers and improve safety, the district recently installed tracking devices in every bus in the district.

"We use that to monitor where the buses are, how the buses are traveling. So we use it to monitor the use, appropriate and inappropriate use of buses," Burton said.

A similar tracking system has been used for several years in Springfield. Superintendent Robert Hill said it is a secure and fool-proof way to keep track what drivers are doing on the road.

"If there is an incident, we have the capability to really add to the investigation. How could this have happened? Why did it happen? What was the speed?" Hill said.

While the track record of bus drivers in Dayton and Springfield is completely open, the situation in Xenia Community Schools is very different. Xenia contracts out transportation to a private company.