Accident free school bus drivers honored

safedrivers051: Safe Drivers
CHP Officer Mike Reed presented Safe Driving Certificates to this quartet of Kern County Superintendent of Schools school bus drivers (l to r) Julia Hughes, Patricia Weedon, Elena Carrillo and Terri Rocha who logged a total 1,452,427 preventable accident miles between them.
Driving a school bus safely is such an important requirement in the Kern County Superintendent of Schools' Transportation Services department, that yearly it holds an awards ceremony to honor those who have done it the best. During Aug. 17 ceremonies, approximately 67 drivers received justifiable recognition.

"When I look at the list of school bus drivers, their years of driving without a preventable accident adds up to something like 462 years," Transportation Services Director Paul Linder told the audience. "In just over 2.3 million miles of driving this year, we had a few minor bus bumps and scrapes, but no injuries and that is a credit to the professionalism each of you drivers bring to your job."

The ceremony was divided into two parts. California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer Mike Reed took the stage first. The CHP tests school bus drivers and annually honors drivers who have driven at least 100,000 miles without a preventable accident. This year Reed presented 10 drivers who achieved that milestone with Safe Driving Certificates. Driver Julia Hughes topped the list logging 867,486 miles without a preventable accident.

Following the CHP awards, Transportation Services presented Safe Driving Pins to 57 school bus drivers based on the number of accident-free years they have driven without as much as scratching a fender. Notable were both Hughes and Jane Frando who have not had an accident in 24 years, which is as long as Transportation Services has existed. An amazing statistic is that six drivers -- Hughes, Frando, Sheila Cazares, Pat Jackson, Julia Beverly and Carrie Boschini -- totaled 138 years of driving between them in which no preventable accidents occurred. Cazares and Jackson have gone 23 years without a preventable accident and Beverly and Boschini 22 years.

Transportation Services delivers special education students daily from home to school and home again. During the past school year, Transportation Services school bus drivers averaged 3.97 accidents per million miles. All of the accidents were minor in nature and not one school child was injured.

Kern County Superintendent of Schools Larry E. Reider, Associate Superintendent Christine Frazier and Assistant Superintendent Tom Valos presented safe driving pins to the drivers during the Aug. 17 ceremony.

"So much good has already been said about you," Reider told the drivers, "I just want to add my congratulations for the great job you do with the most precious commodity we have -- our children."

School buses are the documented safest form of transportation for school children. From 1997-2003 there was only one school bus fatality in California, and in the United States only 21 occurred over the same six year period.

2004-05 CHP Safe Driving Certificate Recipients

Name
Miles
Rebecca Fabbri
104,383
Dorla Lee-McNeill
121,653
Terri Rocha
135,433
Patricia Weedon
214,469
Elena Carrillo
235,039
Cathy Kochanski
238,666
David Register
422,071
Jane Frando
567,165
Judy Fike
612,326
Julia Hughes
867,486


2004-05 Transportation Services Safe Driving Pins

1 Year
Jeri Bozarth
Melissa Martin
Connie Costruita
Dawn Robles
Daniel Beechly
Teresa Coleman
Lynda Graham
Wendy Castillo

2 Years
Carolyn Towery
Sylvia Howell
Isabel Marroquin
Dorla Lee-McNeill
Christy Butler
Jenene Shears
Sharon Fahmie

3 Years
Diana Clancy
Deanna Harvey
Ada Thomas
Rebecca Fabbri

4 Years
Louise Burnett
Ketra Johnson
Tara Cook
Amabeli Zuniga

5 Years
Christine Chenoweth
Vera Fisher
Ken Hayen

6 Years
Teresa Clark
Keisha Dean
Terri Gamble
Melissa Ramay
Stormi Raines
Terri Rocha
Trish Weedon
John Young

7 Years
Robyn Bolin
Elena Carrillo
Cathy Kochanski
Melanie Ogle
Darlene Wood

8 Years
Shirley Wammock

11 Years
Linda Rodriguez

12 Years
Ramona Thomas

13 Years
Charlotte Gonzales
Robyrt Gridiron

14 Years
Virginia Jones

16 Years
Becky Bowers
David Register
Tomi Etcheverry

18 Years
Myra Payne

19 Years
Jodee Gilbert-Uhlman

22 Years
Julia Beverly
Carrie Boschini

23 Years
Sheila Cazares
Pat Jackson

24 Years
Jane Frando
Julia Hughes


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