COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – The head of the SC Highway Patrol and transportation director for the SC Department of Education held a joint news conference to discuss school bus safety.
The press conference was hosted at 10 a.m. on Wednesday at the South Carolina State Fair in the Goodman Building.
The SCDE Director of Transportation Mike Bullman, talked about actions the agency has taken to ensure school bus safety. Colonel Christopher N. Williamson, SC Highway Patrol Commander, highlighted the important role that drivers play and road safety rules to help ensure school bus safety.
“We all play a role in ensuring students in South Carolina and around the nation remain safe during their travel to and from school,” said SCDE Director of Transportation, Mike Bullman. “During National School Bus Safety Week, we want to draw awareness, ensure everyone is knowledgeable about the rules and guidelines around school buses, and highlight the many ways our agency is playing an active role in addressing this issue.”
Officials said the SCDE has implemented several actions to ensure school buses are safe for students.
According to a press release, the agency has also cut the average age of school buses by half, installed GPS hardware and software in all buses and added more than 4,600 new buses to the South Carolina fleet.
The press conference comes in conjunction with National School Bus Safety, which runs Oct. 16-20 this year.
“We are pleased to be here again at the SC State Fair with our longstanding partner, the South Carolina Department of Education, to speak to the community and urge everyone to keep school bus safety a priority,” said Colonel Christopher N. Williamson, Commander of the SC Highway Patrol. “While there continues to be significant improvements in school bus technology, training, and education, we still see people in our state choosing to deliberately break the laws intended to keep children safe. So today we are reminding the community – school bus safety is a team effort, and that we all have a role to play in keeping our most precious cargo safe.”
For more information on the SCDPS school bus safety campaign, click here.
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