Gas engines in school buses coming back?
Just thought I' d post something a lil different. Got local school budget info and just like everything else in NYS, bigger budget. One item that caught my attention tho is bus purchases. Seems tha...
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rjstractor wrote:whjco wrote:
Here in Kentucky, all full-sized school buses are diesel powered. After a retired gas-powered ex-school bus was hit head on by a drunk driver near Carrolton, KY 31 years ago, puncturing the gas tank and bursting into flame and killing 27 people, all school buses are now diesel powered.
Comparing safety standards that were in effect 50+ years ago doesn't really apply today. Diesel may have a much higher flash point than gas, but also has a lower autoignition temperature and when it does ignite it burns ferociously. With the current safety standards on school buses, fuel type is not a factor.
If anybody still remembers, this had less to do with the fuel, than the complete lack of safety standards in the school bus fleet at the time. Roll overs would result in the roof easily splitting open and tossing kids out. Fuel tanks were sheet metal bombs, mounted outside of the frame rails, with a thin skirt of body metal hiding them from view. I clearly remember buses being removed from service, and new ones arriving with massive cages surrounding the tanks, and improved body integrity standards.
