On Thursday morning, May 12, at approximately 7:50 a.m., a Coffee County school bus was involved in a traffic accident at the intersection of Highway 32 and 206. In attempting to turn left on to 206, the school bus struck an oncoming vehicle. Fortunately, there were no injuries and the school bus was not transporting any students.
The school bus driver was cited for failure to yield according to the Georgia Highway Patrol. This will be handled as a personnel issue and appropriate action will be taken.
Since the school system has had numerous accidents in a short period of time, Monday, May 9, school superintendent Dr. Morris Leis along with Transportation Director Buddy Gilliard and additional central office staff, met with all school drivers to not only discuss bus safety but reviewed numerous videos pertaining to driving a school bus and important precautions that should be taken.
In following protocol, school system drivers do meet quarterly with Gilliard to participate not only in continuous training sessions offered by the Georgia School Board Association, but open discussion among drivers about various situations that have or could occur when driving a school bus.
“As in every situation, our students’ safety is number one; especially when it involves the transportation of students not only to and from school but extracurricular activities as well,” stated Dr. Leis “We certainly regret these bus accidents have occurred and as we are closing the 2016 school year and preparing for 2017, we will be reviewing additional measures we can take to provide specific training for our drivers.”