Church bus death and injury.  Disappointing.  Deliberate?  Ignorant!

In light of the horrendous Georgia church bus accident where someone died and dozens are hurting, I have to wonder who truly takes the blame.   The churches ought to know that fiberglass bodied buses are not nearly as safe as a school bus.   A metal school bus body is tough.  Did anyone pay attention to how the frame rail of the Georgia church bus held up well, while the sidewalls completely failed and the roof came down?  The frame was very similar to a school bus.  The body wasn't!  This "perfect" church bus was dangerous to be on the road.  I would not want to ride on one of these fiberglass bodied buses, and I wouldn't want my family inside one.  My feelings are the same for church vans.

Do churches deliberately place their most precious cargo inside these buses, while knowing they are not safe at high speeds?  Do the manufacturers deliberately produce these vehicles knowing they are not safe at high speeds?  Do dealers deliberately sell these buses knowing they are not safe at high speeds?  I would NEVER suggest to a church or non-profit group that they should buy a "church bus" like the one that just killed someone in Georgia.  I would always, and have always, suggested they consider a school bus.  Out of safety concerns, no church should carry their people inside sheets of fiberglass.

Insurance companies do not feel the loss of life or injury to the people.  They only see the monetary loss.  So, why do they insure these buses for church bus use?  How many losses will they need before they reconsider insuring these fiberglass vehicles?  Insurance companies can limit through their policy how much to pay for loss of life, how much medical insurance they will provide, and how much collision damage coverage they will pay.  They can place limits on their liability.  Churches have to decide, as well, how much insurance coverage to carry.  How can you put a price on a human life?   A church limits the insurance coverage according to their monetary ability and according to how much risk they want to assume.  Insurance companies charge according to their ability to profit.  It is disappointing that neither of these groups put passenger safety into consideration when buying these fiberglass buses or passenger vans.

SLOW DOWN!  These accidents occur because of speed.  I wish every bus had a governor set at 55 mph.  Fiberglass buses and large vans should be limited to 55, for sure.  The insurance company could demand it.  The church could do it.  BUT, everyone is in a hurry.  Speed kills.   Imagine all the smiling faces on this bus just seconds before the crash.  This bus was obviously going way too fast, but how many people on the bus realized their lives were in such danger?  How many people on that bus would have been siting in their seats, buckled up real tight, and praying for their safety, had they simply known that this bus offered false security in case of an accident?  Fiberglass bodies are not safe enough. 

Church buses fly by me all the time on the road.   I see a 15 passenger van full of smiling faces fly by me on every trip I take.  Minibuses and shuttle buses fly by, and they are often pulling trailers.  Even Richard Petty would not want to drive as fast as these church bus drivers do.  Requiring a 55 mph governor on church buses would save lives.

Why not give yourself an extra hour to get to where you need to be?  Why not stop every hour and let people stretch their legs and allow the driver to refresh?  The driver would not get nearly as tired.  Also, the driver would not make nearly as many mistakes, and would be a much safer driver, if only the speed was limited to 55 mph.   The extra time on the road would allow for more fellowship, more smiling faces, and more quality time together.

Do churches deliberately schedule their bus trips according to high speeds?  Do churches deliberately put their people into dangerous situations by allowing them to be transported inside a fiberglass bus body?  Do insurance companies deliberately allow these dangerous buses on the highway?  Do insurance companies deliberately allow people to drive these buses without special training?   Or are these people simply ignorant of the fact that these buses provide very little protection in a high speed accident or roll over?  I can't stop thinking about all the smiling faces that were on that bus just seconds before their world stopped.

It is disappointing that there are dealers out there selling these buses, brand new, to churches.  They even call them church buses.  I have to wonder if Jesus, Himself, would want to ride in one.  It disappoints me to think that there are churches out there who believe this is the right way to go.  It isn't.  A school bus provides much more safety to the people riding inside them.  A school bus would reduce the number of deaths from church bus and van accidents.   AND slowing down would make all passenger vehicles safer.  How many more will die?  When will churches be held liable for these deaths?  When will the dealers selling these buses be held liable for not selling the most safe vehicle to the churches?  When will insurance companies stop insuring these unsafe vehicles?  When will the government step in and force these buses to slow down?  We don't need any of these things to happen in order to make our church bus riders safer.   Better scheduling, slower speeds, more stops, and metal school bus bodies can go a long way in reducing the deaths and injuries from church bus and van accidents.   Church members have to step up and complain.  SLOW DOWN!

The families and passengers on this bus in Georgia should hold the church responsible for not providing them with the most safe vehicle possible..  They should consider the dealer who sold the bus to the church as someone to avoid at any cost, from now on.  That dealer considered profit, not safety.  The same goes for the manufacturer.  A school bus could have been bought for less money, in most cases.  All of these people responsible for the accident should be challenged for how fast the bus was allowed to travel.  We should not hate anyone.  Instead, LEARN.  Make something good come out of this terrible accident.  Her name was Sarah.  She was 17 years old.  It would have been against the law for her to be riding in that bus had it been a public or private school taking people to the airport for a trip to Africa.  It was legal for her to be in a church bus.

www.floridachurchbus.com is a website I personally control.  I want your church members to ride in safer, metal bodied, school buses.   It has been against the law since 1974 for a dealer to sell a 15 passenger van to a school, public or private, for the purpose of transporting students.  A 15 passenger van is defined as any van that carries between 10 and 14 passengers.  It has also been against the law for any dealer to sell to a private or public school any bus that does not meet the safety standards of a "school bus".  If it is against the law for a school to carry students in a large van, and if it is against the law for a public or private school to carry children in a bus that does not meet "school bus" safety requirements, then why would a church want to carry their people in one of these?  There is no way of knowing if Sarah would have been killed in the Georgia accident had she been inside a metal school bus body, but is much more likely that she would have lived, and it is much more likely that there would have been fewer injuries.  The government already knows these buses are unsafe.  That's why they require a school, public or private, to not transport children in non-compliant vehicles.  No large vans.  No fiberglass bodies. I am here to answer any questions you might have.  My goal is not to sell you a bus.  My goal is to make sure you do not waste your money on a bus that does not serve you properly.  You are welcome to buy a bus from anywhere.  This site simply shows you some options that are much safer than your so-called church bus.

Wake up, preachers.  Wake up, elders.  Wake up, Boards of directors.  Wake up, passengers.  Is it deliberate to place people in these vehicles?  Or just ignorant?  Either way, it is disappointing.  I've spent my entire adult life trying to get church goers into safer school buses.  It is my hope that you stand up and be heard; don't be afraid to shout at the driver to slow down, either.  It is your life.

Greg Archambault, www.floridachurchbus.com