special emphasis. These courses were usually given over 5-day periods with sessions of 4 to 10 hours a day. In New York the courses were given in the evenings, 2 to 3 hours an evening, 5 days a week for 2 or 3 weeks. These courses were organized to serve small groups of 15 to 30 drivers and in a comparatively small area, such as the county, a part of a county, or a small group of school districts. The organizers of these more comprehensive courses frequently made use of instructors in or near the neighborhood in which the course was held. A considerable body of materials, suitable for use in training school bus drivers, has been developed within the last few years. One of the earlier bulletins was School Busses-Their Safe Design and Operation published in 1940 by the National Safety Council. As the States formulated programs many of them printed or mimeographed bulletins for use in their own training programs. The following bulletins were developed in the States, in many cases by those participating in the courses for instructors of school bus drivers: ALABAMA Instructional Units for Training Alabama School Bus Drivers Drivers GEORGIA-Instructor's Manual for Training School Bus Drivers NEW MEXICO-Manual for New Mexico School Bus Drivers by Ernest L. Martin and Marjorie F. Martin NEW YORK-School Bus Driver Instructor's Manual NORTH CAROLINA-A Handbook for School Bus Drivers prepared by North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, Division of Highway Safety, in cooperation with North Carolina State School Commission SOUTH CAROLINA-Handbook for School Bus Drivers in South Carolina edited by W. F. Guy VIRGINIA-School Bus Operation and Maintenance by J. Milton Shue and R. L. Wimbish WEST VIRGINIA-Instructor's Manual for Training School Bus Drivers of West Virginia Because of the interest in material for training school bus drivers, the U. S. Office of Education cooperated with the American Automobile Association in bringing together that part of the material which had been used by many States and it was published by the U. S. Office of Education in the bulletin Training School Bus Drivers. In addition to the printed materials other kinds of materials have been made available. The U. S. Office of Education prepared two motion-picture films, one on Bus Care and Maintenance and the other on Passengers-Driving Hazards-Safety. Both of these are 16-millimeter, black and white sound films and both were made available on a rental basis by various companies which operate a film rental service. Many other motion-picture films and film strips which are related to certain phases of school bus driver training are available. Two kinds of incentive have been used to obtain attendance at driver training conferences or courses. In almost all of the States which have given the courses it is legal to pay salaries of the drivers while attending and in some States it is legally possible to pay their expenses. A majority of the State departments of education have encouraged local units to pay salaries for this period of time. In New Mexico where almost all transportation is by contract the cost of attending training courses is approved as a legitimate cost in computing the contract price. The other method of obtaining attendance is to make it a requirement for school bus drivers. In North Carolina the law requires that a person successfully complete such a training course before he can be employed as a school bus driver, and in Indiana the law requires annual attendance at the meetings called by the State police. Completion of such a course was made compulsory in New York as a war measure. In Minnesota and New Mexico attendance was virtually compulsory by State department of education regulation, and in several other States training was so strongly recommended that the number of drivers taking advantage of it approached 100 percent. According to reports submitted by the States, some 15,000 to 17,000, or close to 20 percent, of the school bus drivers received some kind of driver training during the war period. It is too early in the development of State programs of school bus driver training to present much objective evidence as to the value of this training. However, the experience of New Mexico is a strong indication of the value of this training. In this State the number of school accidents decreased to such a degree that insurance costs based on the experience rating of the State dropped more than 30 percent over the 5-year period following the beginning of the program. Despite the present lack of objective evidence of the value of programs for the training of school bus drivers, practically all of the State transportation supervisors in the States which have had experience in the operation of these programs are so strongly convinced of the need for them that they plan to continue the work. Their opinions are based primarily on reports by local superintendents that the training has improved morale of both drivers and pupils, decreased disciplinary problems, and increased efficiency of the service. FACTORS AFFECTING EFFICIENCY School bus driving is neither a trade nor a profession nor is it likely to ever become either. It is not even an occupation for more than a very few. However, under the most desirable circumstances, it might become a regular, part-time occupation for a large number of the adult drivers, and this seems not an unreasonable goal toward which to work. This does not imply that people should expect to make a living by driving a school bus 2 or 3 hours a day. However, bus driver efficiency is not likely to reach the highest possible level without more nearly continuous or year-after-year service on the part of the adults who are employed as drivers. Several factors contribute to the present lack of stability of employment among school bus drivers. The manner in which some of these factors affect desirability of employment as a school bus driver is shown in table IV. Most of them arise from the circumstance that in most cases the driving of a school bus is only part-time employment. This is changing to the extent that it is becoming common practice for school units to employ a few of the bus drivers full time, usually to work in the school bus maintenance program or in the building maintenance program. Montgomery County, Ala., employed 41 persons as school bus drivers in 1944-45. Fourteen of these drivers were high-school pupils and the other 27 were full-time employees of the school system. Fifteen were engaged in the maintenance, servicing, and operation of the bus fleet (Montgomery County has an old bodymanufacturing plant and continues to use it to assemble and mount the new bus bodies purchased), 5 worked in the building maintenance program, 4 worked in cafeterias, and 3 were teachers. One parish in Louisiana employs 12 school bus drivers and all are full-time employees. In addition to driving the buses they work on the maintenance of transportation equipment or school buildings. There are probably other fairly large local units in which this practice is followed. While it probably will never be possible to provide full-time employment for all adult drivers of school buses, the practice of employing the more efficient of them to devote all of their time to the work of the school should be conducive to an increase in efficiency. Table IV.—Retirement, tenure, and salary schedules for school bus drivers (Schoolowned buses) Table IV.-Retirement, tenure, and salary schedules for school bus drivers (Schoolowned buses)—Continued Table IV.—Retirement, tenure, and salarry schedules for school bus drivers (Schoolowned busses)—Continued Because school bus driving is a part-time job States have been slow to set standards which are high enough to be of much value in screening out those who are unfit for the work. In several States the only requirement is a minimum age limit, and anyone who can qualify to drive a car or a farm truck can also qualify to drive a school bus. As was previously pointed out, only 14 States require a complete physical examination for a school bus driver; and while several other States have general physical requirements for a school bus driver, there are several in which a man with but one eye, one arm, or one leg could qualify legally to drive a school bus. There are only a very few States in which a candidate for the job is required to submit to an examination which was designed specifically to determine his fitness for the job. Because of this general lack of reasonably strict standards, there are many States in which any person who is near normal physically may be employed to drive a school bus. Because school bus driving has been largely a part-time job and because few States have established strict standards for school bus drivers, many school boards regard the work as a sort of handy-man job which may be given to a friend, to someone who needs work, or to anyone, without sufficient consideration of his qualifications for the job. As was previously stated, there are only eight States in which there is a law or regulation which requires that an applicant for a school bus driver's job be recommended by the superintendent or principal before he may be employed. In other States, particularly those in which the administrative unit is large, it is the usual practice to employ bus drivers only on the recommendation of the superintendent. In a large majority of the States the board of education in most of the small school units will employ school bus drivers without recommendation of the school superintendent. The employment of a |