Making it Work

New York school bus driver markets new FMVSS-compliant mirror for supplemental third loading/unloading stop arm

By Michele Cooper

Gloria Buley first sketched her idea for a stop arm safety mirror while sitting in a 1999 New York State 40-hour safety course. Now, after seven years of pouring her time, energy and money into her invention, the 42-year-old mother of two teenage boys is closer to seeing her idea become a reality.

“While I was in Betty Hughes’ class, I learned about the ‘by your own bus’ rule,” said Buley, who at the time had only been a driver for the Onteora, N.Y., Central School District for one month. “I was doodling on how I could (better) see the right side of my school bus and not hurt or injure a child, and that’s when the mirror idea came to me.”

She had a prototype of her mirror produced for an FMVSS 131 compliant right-side stop arm. It was exciting enough for Buley when the prototype was delivered to her doorstep in 2002. She became even more excited to see it mounted on the front of the right-side stop arm on a used school bus she bought from Tonche Transit Corporation for $1,500.

“She piqued my curiosity,” said Glenn Every, president and owner of the family-run contract and charter bus company. “When she first described it to us and we heard some of the claims she was making, how it worked and what she was trying to do … it made a lot of sense. In the school bus business, even if you save one life, it’s worth the effort.”

Specialty Manufacturing in North Carolina also donated stop arms, wiring harnesses, lights, and motors.

If the idea catches on remains to be seen. NHTSA said most rear-wheel pedestrian fatalities occur with the bus in motion, and there are concerns regarding indirect vision through two mirrors. The recently released 36th National School Bus Loading & Unloading Survey found all seven of the school bus-related fatalities occurred at the back of the bus, with most of those occurring as the student chased the moving bus or doubled back once the bus left the stop.

An interesting concept, nonetheless.

The Design
The mirror is mounted on the rear right side of the bus allowing the driver to see the 10-foot danger zone while deterring motorists from attempting to pass on the right side of the road. The best way to visualize its functionality is by placing a child-size doll at the right-side rear wheel position, then boarding the bus and sitting in the driver’s seat.

“When I turn on my red warning lights, the mirror deploys outward facing forward,” Buley explained. “By looking into my right drivers’ mirror, I can see the reflection in the (stop arm) mirror, which allows me to see 10 feet on the side of my bus, front to back.”

A plus is that the new mirror never needs adjusting. As all buses are different, so, too, are each manufacturer’s existing mirror systems and bus doors. Buley said this creates different blind spots.

Hitting the Road
Buley took her idea on the road, demonstrating the mirror system to drivers, contractors, school bus safety instructors and insurance companies in her local Woodstock, N.Y., area. Then, in 2003, she rented a trailer and hauled the bus to the NAPT Conference in Salt Lake City to show the industry how the mirror system worked.

Positive feedback from drivers, contractors and manufacturers convinced her she was on the right track.

“Sometimes you think you have a great idea, but (others) say it won’t work,” she said. “So, I took it out to the show to see what my peers thought of it. They were thrilled, especially the bus drivers. There were some drivers who had almost run over a child. When the mirror opened up and they could see the doll, they just flipped!”

Fresh off her NAPT showing, in 2004 she met with School Bus Safety Inspection Chief James A. Brunet with the New York State Department of Transportation. She then contacted NHTSA and, in 2005, she ordered required drawings from Whitelight Design, a Georgia engineering firm that works with companies like Disney and Coca Cola. To obtain New York State approvals, the drawings had to be certified by an in-state engineering firm, Technology Associates of New York City.

“We went through 18 engineering firms before we found one that would do the drawings,” she recalled.

The New York State Safety Compliance Test is an expensive DOT requirement to make sure that no new product renders inoperable any safety equipment on a school bus, such as other approved mirrors.
“That’s what this testing showed,” Buley added. “We were supposed to see 61 meters (nearly 67 yards) from the back of the bus.”

And the state’s tests verified that the mirror did not violate that rule.
Next, on the advice of a friend, Buley requested and received funding for patent and research costs from the Hearing Aid Research Company, a Chicago-based group that assists with humanitarian projects.

Representatives from the company even came to New York to view the prototype.

“They couldn’t believe what the mirror revealed when it was opened,” Buley said. Buley also corresponded with her congressman, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, to muster legislative support as the project moved forward.

NHTSA’s Response
A crowning moment for Buley, who left the school district in 2003 to focus on developing the mirror, was a letter from NHTSA permitting the mirror as a third stop arm option. The letter, dated July 10, 2006 and signed by NHTSA Chief Counsel Anthony M. Cooke, confirmed the mirror system would be permissible under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 111 as long as it doesn’t interfere with the performance of the required mirrors. Cooke wrote that Buley’s mirror meets FMVSS 131 as long as it is used with a third stop arm, since the standard requires installation of primary and secondary stop arms on the left side of the bus only.

Cooke also noted most pedestrian fatalities usually occur when students run alongside a moving bus. “Because your mirror system would only be used when the school bus is stopped … the mirror system may not address those school bus-related fatalities,” he wrote.

Still, Buley awaits permission from the New York State DOT and DMV as the entities review test results. She said she is “very confident” she’ll receive permission in early 2007 to install the mirror system on any new buses in New York and to sell the product to school bus contractors. Then, she’ll seek permission for the rest of the country.

It’s been a long road to hoe in getting her safety mirror to market, but the investment in terms of time, energy and money are well worth it, she said. Manufacturers continue to work with her on the mirror components, and, once she goes into actual production, she’s hoping to recoup some of the money she put into the project.

Financial gain isn’t her goal, however. She said her main payoff will be the satisfaction of knowing that she helped improve safety for children on school buses.

Comparing this entrepreneurial enterprise to her previous catering business, she joked, “This is a bit different. It’s been an interesting ride.”