Deleted
Posts: 0
May 10, 2024 18:05:47 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2016 14:19:25 GMT
The mother of one of the victims told NBC she had complained to the school, the board of education and the bus company about this particular driver: Link.There should be some documentation on this, so I hope the persons who ignored the problem are held accountable. No excuse for endangering those children. So in that link, it states that the mother, Mateen, wrote a letter to the bus driver and the principal read it to Walker. He replied back "So? I'd do it again." I'm confused...was this before the accident took place? If so...why the hell wasn't he fired back then?! With that attitude, he should have been fired on the spot! I just don't get it...why didn't they fire him?? Those poor babies.
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M in Carolina
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,128
Jun 29, 2014 12:11:41 GMT
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Post by M in Carolina on Nov 23, 2016 15:06:12 GMT
Not sure it's been verified, but there is a parent saying he asked the children if they were ready to die before they crashed. Omg. I sincerely hope this is not true. I can't even imagine living through this tragedy as an accident, let alone if it were done in purpose. I googled this and came up with a Daily Mail UK story that stated this. Since they're basically a tabloid, I tried to find a reputable source. Sadly, I did find it. CBS News article and video with Jasmine Mateen There's a video of the mother who's child told her she heard the bus driver asked that as he sped around a windy road. She had also been complaining about the driver since August. Very reckless, speeding. I read another story that claimed that the kids said he cussed at them, "drank" (when I was in first grade--I thought that drinking *any* drink in the car wasn't ok), and would hit the brakes on purpose so they'd hit the seats in front of them. Iowagirl, I also learned to drive early--my dad had an old 1953 army jeep like the ones on MASH. I also drove the big airplane fuel tanker trucks (like the one in Casino Royale) when I worked for my dad at the airport. But there's no way I would *ever* drive kids around that young--and I soloed my first airplane at 17. There's just no substitute for experience and the maturity of adulthood. Good Morning America has a segment where they ask about the seatbelts. Basically money was a big part. The whole "the high seats keep them in" is idiotic. They said the same thing about bench seats in automobiles. The GMA segment had videos of other accidents showing the kids bouncing around the bus--I really wish I hadn't seen that. Even watching the video of the crash test dummies flying around was nauseating. At the end of the segment a woman still claimed buses were the safest way for kids to get to school. These are the people making that decision? There's no way an old bus driven by God knows who earning minimum wage is safer than a parent driving a car where all the kids are in restraints. Especially the 5 point restraints for the little kids. As a high school student, riding in a bus felt kinda safe, but these are tiny kids--the space between seats for them is similar to the space between the back and front seats in a sedan. As for airplanes--turbulence is the issue. You can't see turbulence, and unbuckled passengers can hit the ceiling. Seatbelts really aren't gonna help you in an actual crash--hard landing, yes. But any idiot knows kids are safer buckled up. Period. (fires are extreme examples--they happen in cars as well)
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
Jul 8, 2014 20:17:31 GMT
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Post by scrapaddie on Nov 23, 2016 16:42:54 GMT
Does anyone else think 24 seems kind of young to be driving a bus full of school children? I can't explain why, but I was kind of surprised the driver was so young. Maybe because all we ever had were much older drivers when I was in school and that's sort of what I envision when I think of a school bus driver. When you don't pay people a living wage you seldom attract the cream of the crop. Our bus drivers get from 17 to 19 an hour .. Ohio Teachers often start teaching even younger than 24.... that said, it seems that he was not a good fit for this job.
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tincin
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,368
Jul 25, 2014 4:55:32 GMT
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Post by tincin on Nov 23, 2016 16:48:52 GMT
When you don't pay people a living wage you seldom attract the cream of the crop. Our bus drivers get from 17 to 19 an hour .. Ohio Teachers often start teaching even younger than 24.... that said, it seems that he was not a good fit for this job. The districts I know drivers in pay around $15 an hour but they only work a couple of hours in the am and pm. So you're looking at 4-5 hours a day which even at $15 an hour isn't enough to sustain a decent standard of living. Even if they are getting 5 hours a day, their gross is only $375 a week and only for the school year. It's got to be difficult to keep good drivers at that rate.
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
Jul 8, 2014 20:17:31 GMT
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Post by scrapaddie on Nov 23, 2016 19:41:14 GMT
Our bus drivers get from 17 to 19 an hour .. Ohio Teachers often start teaching even younger than 24.... that said, it seems that he was not a good fit for this job. The districts I know drivers in pay around $15 an hour but they only work a couple of hours in the am and pm. So you're looking at 4-5 hours a day which even at $15 an hour isn't enough to sustain a decent standard of living. Even if they are getting 5 hours a day, their gross is only $375 a week and only for the school year. It's got to be difficult to keep good drivers at that rate. But school bus driving was never intended to be a full-time job. That's why it's a job that is done by a lot of retired people, farmers, or people who just want a second income. I know a lot of good bus drivers who have been driving for 20 years or more. The job suits them. In this case, from what I've heard, this driver should've been investigated a long time ago and should have been released. Of course, all the facts have not come out yet. I wonder if the school district had cameras on the bus? Our school district does.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 10, 2024 18:05:47 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2016 22:58:30 GMT
The districts I know drivers in pay around $15 an hour but they only work a couple of hours in the am and pm. So you're looking at 4-5 hours a day which even at $15 an hour isn't enough to sustain a decent standard of living. Even if they are getting 5 hours a day, their gross is only $375 a week and only for the school year. It's got to be difficult to keep good drivers at that rate. But school bus driving was never intended to be a full-time job. That's why it's a job that is done by a lot of retired people, farmers, or people who just want a second income. I know a lot of good bus drivers who have been driving for 20 years or more. The job suits them. Some don't have the luxury of what the job was "intended" to be. They're gonna take the job if they need the money and they have a clean driving record - which up to the accident, I read that he did. I'd like to see stats on how PRIVATE bus company drivers are paid (not the ones paid by districts in union jobs who likely have better pay and benefits).
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
Jul 8, 2014 20:17:31 GMT
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Post by scrapaddie on Nov 24, 2016 3:48:39 GMT
But school bus driving was never intended to be a full-time job. That's why it's a job that is done by a lot of retired people, farmers, or people who just want a second income. I know a lot of good bus drivers who have been driving for 20 years or more. The job suits them. Some don't have the luxury of what the job was "intended" to be. They're gonna take the job if they need the money and they have a clean driving record - which up to the accident, I read that he did. I'd like to see stats on how PRIVATE bus company drivers are paid (not the ones paid by districts in union jobs who likely have better pay and benefits). In Columbus, Ohio city bus drivers start at. 24, 480 per year lakefront, a private company pays an average of 20.78 an hour, no benefits. Reviews say there is a lot of turnover. Site did not list starting pay
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Post by Patter on Nov 24, 2016 11:12:14 GMT
scrapaddie, did you mean can start driving city buses at age 24? If so, I like that.
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