NTSB Proposes Alcohol Detection Tech for School Buses

0:00It's April 23rd, you're listening to Canada News today, AI-powered local news. I'm Cory with the story. Two years back, a school bus flipped on a West Virginia highway because the driver was drunk, leaving one kid needing a leg amputation and two others. Seriously hurt. Now the National Transportation Safety Board is pushing a big change. All new school buses should have alcohol detection tech that shuts down the engine if the driver seems impaired. This marks the first time the NTSB made that call for school buses after digging into drunk driving cases nationwide. They zeroed in on alcohol since reliable tests for drugs like marijuana aren't ready yet, and legal limits for those are unclear. Folks expect school bus drivers to be extra sharp, no fatigue, no booze, howling our kids safely to class. A news pro found over 100 school bus drivers accused of drunk driving in just five years, though it's a tiny slice of all drivers. Still, with kids as passengers, every risk hits hard.

1:02The driver in that crash got slammed with up to 110 years in prison and 19 kids were hurt overall. School buses are mostly safe out of nearly 1,000 fatal crashes over a decade. Just 113 bus riders died, most victims and other, cars. Federal rules or states could mandate this tech, but Congress needs to step up, like they did for passenger cars, though that's still stuck and red. Tape. Expect pushback from bus owners similar to seatbell fights, but experts say it's a small hassle for huge safety gains keeping those yellow rides. Lockdown. Tight.