To: Shoot1st who wrote (2780 ) 4/26/2001 1:09:24 PM From: Neeka Respond to I was a school bus driver for 14 years. In the third year of my service the district that I worked for bought 50 new buses. Having enough seniority I bid on one. As time went by more and more drivers, of the new buses, started complaining about dizziness, disorientation, fatigue, headache, dry skin, euphoria. For the longest time I just wondered in awe, what are they talking about? I'm not experiencing any of these problems. Yes my skin was a little dry but hey it was spring. I did start noticing that by each Thursday of the week I would be much more tired than when I began the week. Fridays were almost impossible. I would take the weekend off and by Sunday night I would feel great, only to have the whole pattern repeat itself again the next week. This went on week after week. Other drivers were abandoning their brand new buses for the old clunky ones. I remember a time that one of my co workers came into a school complaining about smelling fuel, dizziness, headache. We inspected her bus and while the engine was running, fuel was "pissing" out of the bottom of the bus. These were "pullers" or, front engine buses and that is why she smelled fuel. One day I was taking my elementary kids home and totally spaced out what I was doing and where I was. The kids started yelling "bus driver you missed my stop". I snapped out of it and thankfully delivered them all safely home. When I returned to the bus barn I immediately went into my bosses office and told him "until that bus is fixed I refuse to drive it." By that time 70% of us had abandoned our new buses and refused to drive them. What a pickle that was for my boss. In the end the district and the manufacturer, after extensive testing, had to retrofit each bus with an extensive ventilation system. During testing, and I was in on this test, we put all of the window halfway down, drove the bus on the freeway going 50, lit a match and it did not blow out. Amazing eh? There was absolutely no air circulation in the bus. Conclusion was that when driver picked up load of kids (50 to 85) all that CO built up cuz it couldn't get out. As a result I and many others where driving around with a bus load of kids all relying on the air we breath to keep us alive and it was CO. Extremely dangerous combination. The lady that had the horrible fuel leak had to quit the job as she became extremely chemical sensitive. To a lesser degree, I too am chemical sensitive. I quit that job last June and I am sure that I have added 10 yrs to my life by doing so. M
