COLUMBUS – A panel called to study the issue of school bus safety in Ohio is wrapping up its work in the wake of two fatal crashes involving buses carrying school children n in recent weeks.
The Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group was scheduled to hold its final meeting Friday at the West Side headquarters of the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
The meeting will focus on the topics critical incident response and survivor-family reunification with presentations from The Ohio School Safety Center, Ohio State Highway Patrol, and a representative from a fire and EMS agency in Clark County, where one of the fatal accidents occurred.
After last of its six meetings, the panel will draft a report with recommendations and present it to Gov. Mike DeWine and the public in January.
DeWine formed the group in August following the death of an 11-year-old student from the Northwestern Local School District in Clark County, who died when the driver of an oncoming vehicle crashed into his school bus.
The issue was back in the headlines last month following the deaths of six people, including three high school students, in a multi-vehicle chain reaction crash on I-70 in Licking County involving a charter bus carrying dozens of students and chaperones from the Tuscarawas Valley Local School District in northeast Ohio to Columbus.
Although that incident did not involve a school bus, Wilson said at an earlier meeting that the group would discuss it.
The panel includes representatives from other the Department of Public Safety, other state agencies and associations, along with traffic safety partners and advocates. who are all dedicated to making Ohio’s roadways safer.