How School Buses Became the Safest Vehicles in America

Thanks for watching, sorry again about the visual glitches I’m working on upgrading my computer. Real quick a couple of things I need to add:

If you were a sticky little american child like i  was back in the day, then there’s a solid chance   you spent a portion of every weekday on a school  bus. these big yellow vehicles are an icon of the   little we trust our children with an ounce of   independence. yet, they’re absolutely essential  to our education system and

Serve a very important   link between residential areas and schools across  the nation. without these buses and the dedicated   drivers behind their wheels, every day hundreds  of thousands of children would be much happier.  some of my best memories from school were  made possible by the various bus drivers   one guy who

Was in a band and got fired for   but all that’s besides the point, the purpose of  this video is to look into how school buses came   about and how they’ve changed over the years,  throughout much of the 19th century, prior  to the invention of motorized vehicles,   transport children who were further than   access to

Education was poor nationwide   and oftentimes the determining factor for one’s  future potential was their ability to get to and   from the schoolhouse. once education was made  mandatory beginning in 1852 in massachusetts,   of formal transportation option for children.  the first official school carriage, known as a 

“Kid hack” or a “school hack”, was invented by   the popular belief that these children were   made of computer code, the term “hack” is actually  short for “hackney”, another word used to refer to   this type of carriage. these industrially produced  wagons were still horse drawn but with a number of  

Features which differentiated them from their more  rudimentary predecessors, such as perimeter bench   seating and an entrance & exit door located at the  rear of the wagon. the latter of these features,   in 1914, during the boom of the automotive  industry, the wayne works company saw a   though outside of motorization these

Buses saw  only small improvements over horse-drawn wagons   the only shelter in these buses outside of   wooden paneling was often a tarp to cover the  windows and a simple roof which did little to   released their own versions of school buses  throughout the rest of the 1910s and 20s,   though the majority of these

Competitors did  not survive to see the end of the roaring 20s.  the next large development in the industry saw  the invention of a school bus called blue bird   no. 1 by a man named a.l. luce in 1927, which  was effectively a ford model t retrofitted with   a steel-panel reinforced passenger compartment.  prior to this point,

The primary material used to   build school buses had been wood but as engines  improved and driving speeds inched higher,   wooden vehicles struggled to hold up structurally.  luce’s invention was an instant success,   leading him to found his own company, blue bird,  which is still one of the leading manufacturers  

Three years later in 1930, the wayne works   company released their competitor to the blue bird  no. 1 which was composed entirely of steel and   featured glass windows, also moving the entrance  and exit door to the side of the vehicle to   prevent children from having to walk in the road,  repurposing the back door as an

Emergency exit.  as school buses continued to grow in popularity,  schools across the nation were able to consolidate   the need for student transport as many rural   from their schools. at this point in time,   school buses were largely unregulated and though  there were a handful of larger companies such as   dodge,

Crown motor carriages, gillig, and the  aforementioned wayne works and blue bird, there   were also thousands of independently manufactured  school buses, mostly pre-existing trucks modified   in quality significantly, which pushed forward  efforts to regulate the industry and standardize   safety features. in 1939, spearheaded

By education  expert dr.frank w cyr, transportation authorities   to formulate a set of 44 standards to allow   many of these standards no longer exist except   for a few things such as forward-facing seats  and the adoption of the iconic yellow color which   still remain in effect today. this specific shade  of yellow

Is officially known as “national school   bus glossy yellow”, chosen as it was found to be  the easiest color to see regardless of weather   conditions or light levels as well as the color  which the human brain could register quickest.  the 1970s was another incredibly transformative  decade for school buses, especially when it

Came   to safety features. in 1973, school buses became  federally regulated and the national highway   traffic safety administration began work on the  first five federal motor vehicle safety standards   for school buses. that same year, the first of  these standards went into effect, having to do   with emergency exits,

Both standardizing their  locations and function, but also introducing   engine interlock devices which prevent the engine  from starting when an emergency exit is open. four   years later in 1977, more regulations went into  place which further regulated rollover safety,   body panel joint integrity, engine integrity to 

Prevent fuel spillages, as well as instituting   collision protection. in addition, though   not mandatory at the time, swing-out stop arms  with flashing lights became a widespread feature   on the newest buses. it’s important to note that  the size of school buses made them subject to many   heavy-vehicle regulations

At the time which mostly  improved lighting and other visibility features.  the previously mentioned smaller buses shifted  towards being more bus-like as opposed to   car-like for the sake of safety, using cutaway van  chassis to produce the small buses we know today.  heading into the 80s, bus manufacturers began  to struggle for

The first time in decades.   as the last of the baby boomers graduated high  school, student populations nationwide decreased   and coupled with the recession economy of the  early 80s, the bus manufacturing industry was   forced to slow production. a few of the main 8  companies at the time filed for bankruptcy and  

In 1986, standards were raised for school bus  drivers, as obtaining a commercial driver’s   license was made mandatory for the first time  in order to assure consistent training across   the nation. this set in motion a theme for the  next decade or so, as many regulations focused   heavily on the driver. bus design favored a

Higher  up and more forward driver seating position with   automatic transmissions moving from niche   additions to standard on new production buses.  interior ergonomics around the driver were also   greatly improved to prevent distracted driving,  simplifying the numerous buttons and switches   other improvements during

The 80s saw more   both large and small school buses as well   addition of roof exits, side mounted doors,   an interest in increased visibility and turning   radius resulted in the production of cab-over,  also known as transit-style school buses,   the steer axle and the engine was moved   the driver. this

Style of bus could hold the   buses though in a smaller body, leading   manufacturers to produce many of these models  throughout the rest of the 20th century, though   over time they grew in size to accommodate more  students than their conventional counterparts.  bus advancements, with four of the leading   manufacturers

Closing their doors by the turn  of the century. one of the largest changes to   of the school bus crossing arm which prevents   during this decade the us finally banned the use  of large passenger vans for student transport,   activity buses, which differed from previous   a school bus in terms of safety features,  

However, was usually white or another non-yellow   stop arms, signage, and lighting as these   these were and still are a popular option   for many religious schools which use activity  buses for both school and church transport   the 2000s marked the beginning of a new wave of   manufacturer consolidation, which allowed

For more  widespread implementation of new safety features,   mostly coming from within the companies themselves  as opposed to regulators as safety became the   number one selling point for school buses. in  terms of style, conventional bus hoods were sloped   more for visibility but most of the advancements  were, again,

In safety. incandescent lights were   in bright conditions, interior facing cameras   and advanced alarm systems known as no student  left behind systems were installed to detect   and prevent children from being left on unattended  buses as forgotten children would sometimes end up   in the bus depot. these systems require

That a bus  driver travels to the back of the bus to activate   either a switch or the rear emergency door every  time the engine is shut off, giving them an   throughout the 2010s, most advancements were   gps tracking devices, and proximity sensors. today, buses are the safest form of road travel   in the us, being over

70 times safer than riding  to school by car. yet, the vast majority still   do not have any seat belts, mostly because the  size of a bus is so large that in the event of   passengers. this is not to say that seat belts   aren’t used at all, with five states requiring  some form of belt, mostly used during highway  

Travel. buses also have priority under the law,  with other drivers having to stop for them when   picking up or dropping off passengers. if you’ve  ever ridden a school bus over railroad tracks,   you might notice the driver stopping, opening  the door, and listening, a standard practice   in the us and canada, school buses are

Required   to be purpose-built and distinct from all other  vehicles, with regulations enforcing a two axle,   single-deck design, and the classic “school bus”  texts above the front windshield and back door.  of school buses produced in north america.   type a and b are short busses, the difference  between them being that

Type a are derived from   cutaway chassis while type b are built on bare  chassis. an easy way to tell which is which is   the presence of a driver’s side door, which is  only a feature on type as. type c is the most   hooded design, whereas type d is either   current school bus safety features differ based on  

State law, though some common ones i have yet to  mention are reflective tape, kick-out windshields,   locking in place emergency exit doors, heated  mirrors, exhaust brake systems, lighting   as is the trend in the automotive industry   rarity due to their price, most school  right now there are about 360,000 school bus 

Drivers in the us and as time passes on there   will only be an increased need for drivers. for  the foreseeable future, school bus drivers are   surprisingly safe from the threat of automation  as it would be a tough sell for parents to trust   job is much more than simply driving a bus,   as drivers are responsible for

Ensuring the proper  functioning of the vehicle, child safety, and,   at least in my experience, making the trips to  and from school a little less painful. seriously,   i rode the bus for around 8 years as a kid and the  various bus drivers i had over the course of those   years were some of the coolest adults i interacted 

With at that age and though they told me to study   thought it would be fun to drive a school bus.  thanks for watching and let me know what kind of  video you’d like to see next. also, before i go,   and i apologize for this in advance, i promised a  hey tone….. i just found outta ‘bout school   to transport students…

If it were up to   me i’d use them to transport a big fat bowl of  spaghetti…. come on now tone… no need to cry like   alright that’s enough of that. bye.

Transcribed from video
How School Buses Became the Safest Vehicles in America By Yukon