San Diego Unified School District has put an electronic system in place to ensure drivers make proper inspections of the vehicles.
The new system will be installed on all of the buses used by the district, making for a total of 400 vehicles. School bus drivers have already been trained, and the new program is expected to be fully implemented by the end of this month.
Until now, the system of checking for students who may still be on the bus has been a manual effort, requiring the driver to walk the entire length of the vehicle to make sure everyone has left the vehicle. However, according to Gene Robinson, who is the director of the school district's Transportation and Distribution Services, there was no independent way to confirm whether or not the drivers were actually going all the way to the back.
The new system features a hand-held device that keeps track of the buses, but it also features a scanner mounted at the rear of the vehicle. The scanner will show whether or not the driver has made a thorough search.
School district officials could work with a flyer printing company to create a mailer for parents in the district, explaining the new system and reassuring them they do not need to worry about their children when they are on a school bus.
