BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH) — A recent report revealed a pattern of reckless driving around school buses in Bridgeport — a trend that some DATTCO employees said they aren’t surprised to hear about.
“It scares me to think that people feel that it’s okay to not think about the lives they’re endangering,” said Sarah Tirado, a DATTCO school bus driver and trainer for the last 13 years.
DATTCO is one of the largest school bus companies in Connecticut, transporting about 120,000 children each day across 950 bus routes in two dozen school districts.
She said drivers frequently whip by her bus, as she’s parked with flashing lights on, her stop sign out and children getting on and off the bus.
“Depending on where I’m driving, I’ve had it happen up to five times a day,” Tirado said.
Bridgeport city leaders released a security video, which shows drivers in the illegal act of blowing by school buses. They said nearly 10,000 drivers were caught in the last six months.
But Bryony Chamberlain, the vice president of school buses for DATTCO, said there’s more than that because it does not include their buses in the Park City.
“I know that those numbers for us are not included in there,” Chamberlain said. “So, there’s a bigger problem in Bridgeport than already announced.”
Chamberlain said there’s a bigger problem across Connecticut because DATTCO bus drivers alone could experience close calls about 100 times a day.
“[It’s] easily 20 a day which are potentially reportable, but the drivers tell us there’s way more than that,” Chamberlain said.
Only 50 of DATTCO’s 1,100 buses are equipped with external cameras, so bus drivers, like Tirado, have to find other ways to catch reckless drivers.
“We have to write it down,” Tirado said. “That’s what we’re supposed to do, or if we can remember it, we can call it in. Our first priority is always the kids.”
Her message to drivers is to pay attention.
“Nothing is more important than that child at that moment. You can’t replace that,” Tirado said.
Chamberlain said school districts are responsible for installing exterior cameras on buses — which costs $4,000 per bus. She adds, most times, a district’s priority is to pay for cameras inside their buses to record kids’ behavior; but then school leaders don’t have money in the budget to install cameras on the outside of the buses.
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