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