The worst school bus/train collision in American history occurred in Utah more than 60 years ago. And a group is working to make sure that drivers know how to operate their buses safely around trains so a similar accident doesn't happen again.
On Dec. 1, 1938, a Jordan School District bus collided with a train in Sandy, causing the deaths of 23 high school students and their driver. It is an accident that Kathy Simmons, risk coordinator for buses in the district, said her drivers are constantly reminded of.
"It's something we put into their heads during training because we never want to repeat it — ever," she said.
While Utah has had relatively few bus/train collisions since the 1938 incident, Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit safety education group, is working with school districts throughout the state to educate bus drivers about safety around train tracks.
The group distributed a DVD and training manuals in early June encouraging drivers to take a number of safety precautions before crossing railroad tracks.
While Operation Lifesaver works to provide safety education to drivers through out the state, working with school bus drivers is a top priority, said Vern Keeslar, state coordinator for the group.
"Not all drivers carry as important of a commodity as school bus drivers do," he said.
The training manual Operation Lifesaver provides features a "Five Alive Drill" for drivers to perform before crossing tracks. The drill calls for drivers to:
Slow down and obey all warning signs and signals.
Silence extraneous noises. Alert the students on the bus to be quiet and turn off the radio and fan.
Stop no closer than 15 feet from the crossing and open the driver's window and right-hand door. Carefully look in both directions for a train.
Do a double take. Check both directions again.
Once you start driving across the tracks, do not stop or hesitate.
Simmons said that her drivers are already required to perform similar steps and says that 100 percent of bus drivers in her district stop before crossing train tracks. But, regardless, she said it's important to constantly review these safety steps with drivers.
Without Operation Lifesaver she said it would be difficult to afford manuals and training DVDs for drivers.
"We don't have a lot of resources that are free like this," she said.
"We want all school bus drivers in Utah to receive this training during the summer before the next school year begins," Keeslar said.
E-mail: dgardiner@desnews.com