Too many drivers are too distracted around school buses

They say things come in threes -- but officials can only wish there would have been that many accidents involving school buses this year.

There have been at least five accidents involving school buses so far this month, the latest Tuesday morning when a man from Ponca, Nebraska, was killed when his vehicle hit a bus on Highway 12 about two miles south of that town.

As was the case in other accidents, the bus was stopped, with proper lights flashing and its "Stop" arm extended when the other vehicle struck it.

Earlier this week, the driver of a pickup truck died after it hit a school bus near Farwell. Other accidents involving school buses have occurred in Lincoln, Grand Island and Fremont, at least one of them when the bus was stopped at a railroad crossing.

Cindy Holden, director of pupil transportation for the Nebraska Safety Center in Kearney, notes that injuries to students and bus drivers are usually reported as minor, but "we don't think any injury to a child is minor. An accident is a traumatic experience for children even if there are no physical injuries."

Holden didn't offer specific reasons for the accidents, other than urging that drivers be more alert. "Don't be on the cell phone or let yourself be distracted in any other way," she said. The peak hours are from 7 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 5 p.m., but buses operate at all times of days or nights for special activities.

Glaring sunrises or sunsets, directly down east-west highways are a problem this time of year, with the smart phones and texting adding new distractions in recent years.

During an average school year, there may be 260 school bus accidents across the state, resulting in 100 injuries, she said. Almost all of them are preventable.

It's not easy to rush out to the car, breakfast sandwich and coffee in hand, checking Facebook on our phones, and listening to the radio while driving, half asleep, to work, but that's how many of us do it.

Instead, let's get up a little earlier, take our time, leave the electronics turned off and pay attention to the most important task at hand: Driving safely to our destination.