Jeffco transportation staff concerned about district response after video of accident reveals distracted Colorado bus driver

A video that shows the moment a school bus full of Colorado children veered of a road is generating a discussion about policies in Jefferson County. A fellow bus driver who asked not to be identified says the video, which was obtained independently by CBS Colorado, is circulating within the transportation department of Jeffco Public Schools. Some employees say a proper review was never done.

None of the 19 passengers on the bus one were hurt last year when the vehicle headed down an embankment on Stagecoach Boulevard near the rodeo fairgrounds in Evergreen. Cameras mounted inside the Jeffco Public Schools bus show for roughly 10 seconds before that the male driver had his eyes fixed on a sheet of paper.

"My fear is that kids will get hurt," the unidentified driver told CBS Colorado.

Just a few days following the accident last April, the school district sent an email to parents saying transportation services completed their after-action review and found the bus driver got distracted by wildlife, veered onto the soft shoulder toward the embankment and that he carefully steered the bus down it to prevent it from rolling over.

An accident report from the Colorado State Patrol, who were called to the scene by witnesses, says the driver swerved to the left to avoid an elk. An internal crash report for the school district says the same thing.

None of the reports taken at the time mention the driver was distracted by the sheet of paper at the time, and careful review of the video shows the driver was already veering off to the right of the road before then swerving the wheel sharply to the left and into the embankment.

"The report almost made it seem like he was a superstar for swerving to miss an elk and keeping the kids all safe when the bus ran off the road," the driver said.

CBS Colorado asked Trevor Byrne, former Jefferson County bus driver and former Jeffco transportation union president, for his thoughts on the video and the response. He believes more review was needed. He says Jefferson County once required every incident to go before an accident review board.

"Every accident, no matter how minor how large would go through. There were different classes of accidents depending on damage or injury, they would review it determine if it was preventable or non-preventable and depending on that the outcome would be disciplinary action," he said.

Officials with Jefferson County say the policy was updated just a few months before the accident that was captured on video. Now, protocol only requires the terminal director and a trainer to be involved in a review.

They say the driver appeared to be reading a route sheet, or directions, which for many years was standard protocol.

In an official statement they say in part, "camera footage clearly shows the driver looking at a piece of paper with either a new stop address or directions at the time of the incident, making driver distraction irrefutable." They go on to say, "We value our bus drivers and their training. When accidents happen, we take appropriate action, which in this case was to provide reinforced safety training for our driver; they have had no other incidents."

A district spokesperson says the district is currently updating tablets on their buses to provide real-time navigation to drivers and say as part of their normal protocol, accident review procedures are regularly reviewed and will be again this year.